Fire Emblem: Order and Chaos
by pureshadow013
Summary: Why did this have to happen? I died, which I don't even remember happening, and now I'm stuck in Ylisse. I haven't even played this game in years! (hopefully) better than the summary. SYOC closed!
1. Humble beginnings

**Well, here is the rewrite of the first chapter. The original version of this was kind of awful, but I hope that I made this one much better despite the boredom of rewriting something you have already done. I'll be leaving the other chapters as-is, so this rewrite will hopefully be a fair hint of the quality in later chapters and keep some of you guys going. Honestly, at this point chapters 2 and 3 should be taken as borderline filler, since some of the points made in them are useless and in some cases incorrect now.**

**Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Fire Emblem.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Nothingness, darkness, that was all I could see and feel. There was no sound, no smell, no sensation, only my own thoughts, a disembodied voice echoing inside my head. The only way I could describe this state was… death?

But if that was true, shouldn't I be seeing pearly gates, or flames burning endlessly? Shouldn't I be hearing the cheers of the blessed or the wails of the damned, or something?

The idea of Hell was a terrifying prospect, but at least then there would be something. The idea of pure nothingness was even more terrifying. I was alone with my own thoughts. Would even my own mind grow silent over time?

But among all of these questions was one that was even more important: How did I die in the first place? I could remember getting up in the morning and preparing for my classes, but everything past that was simply a blur.

Before I could finish contemplating this, I was wrapped up in a warm glow. It seemed as if there would be something for me after all, but what would it be?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The first thing I felt was the pleasant breeze flowing by. I opened my eyes and looked around. The sky was perfectly clear, a deep azure blue. Flowers filled the clearing, leaving scarcely a shred of green. I raised my hand to see the usual pale tone of my hand. Wait, something seemed off about that, but I couldn't quite place it.

_"Best not to worry about what we can't hope to answer."_

Who the hell are you?

_"I am a shadow, the true self… pfft. I am your shadow, you can call me Shade if you like. It is my job to lead you through the journey at hand."_

Journey?

I looked up to see a woman reaching out towards me. Wait, was that Naga?

I grabbed her hand and pulled myself up. "Naga? But I thought I was in…"

"Heaven?" Naga finished for me. "I am sorry, dear child, but you can not rest quite yet. You lost your life so early, but I plan to give you a second chance."

A second chance? Was I in a bad fanfiction or something?

_"Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction, I suppose."_

Well, this certainly didn't feel like a dream. "What is this second chance?"

"I believe that you are already aware."

I sighed "Ylisse"

"That is correct. Do you accept?"

The idea of going to another world, even one that I was aware of, was not a fond one. However "If I'll get a second chance, then I will take your offer. Are there others?"

Naga nodded with a smile "Yes, there are seven others. They each have varying amounts of experience, but they were all handpicked by me."

"And what do I have to face? I am certain that you wouldn't pull us in this if we were talking about the normal Awakening."

"Grima has brought four troops of his own. The powers I will grant you are great, but those of the Fell dragons are terrible. If left alone, they will raze this world. With the eight of you, I am interfering as much as the powers that be will allow, and yet I still fear for your chances."

"Why is Grima doing this? Is he truly that evil?"

A doubtful look formed in Naga's eyes "I would like to tell you that those were his reasons, for that is what I had once believed, but I am now unsure. His reasons for doing this are just as confusing for me as they are for you, if not more. I had always thought he was just as much of a monster as his father, but is he truly?"

I decided to get things moving along, it was pointless for me to ask questions that could not be answered for me. "What do I have to work with?"

Naga pulled out a blade and a dark tome. The blade was a saber with the tip of a rapier, able to slash fairly well and to jab with a lot of force. The blade was mostly black, with a blood red tint taking parts of the edges. It was a length of about three feet, not particularly long but not necessarily short either. The weapon had a basket hilt made of obsidian to guard my hand as well, probably the best feature of the blade. The blade held a dark aura to it, causing it to contrast greatly with the field we were in.

I guessed that the same could be said for the flux tome, and myself for that matter. My hair was black and my eyes were yellow, I was wearing a black cloak. Everything about me screamed darkness and death, clashing with the aura of light and life around me.

_"The blade's name is Yamikiri, the darkness-piercing blade. Rather odd name for a weapon made of dark magic, isn't it? I suppose it's fitting for us. You are a youkai after all- a being who gives off the impression of a wraith. Youkai are similar to a tactician in fighting style, however they focus more on speed and precision and less on defenses, a distinction that can either be very useful or very hurtful depending on the situation. The Youkai were considered demons in many cultures due to their dark powers and ghostly demeanors, causing the majority of them to disappear, never passing on their secrets to others."_

"I can use magic?" I asked looking towards the tome.

"There are many gifts that I have granted you. That time of 'nothingness' you experienced was me giving you these gifts. In addition, you have a certain power that was thrown in."

"Power."

"You will find out soon enough, child. I would like to teach you about these gifts, but I am afraid that we do not have the time to spare. I wish you well in your journey, **Kira**.

The world around me began to fade, and within moments everything was gone and all I could do was fall.

XXXXXXXXXX

I landed in the middle of a forest, with the trees breaking my fall. Nothing seemed to be broken, but I was still battered from all the branches hitting me. Well, battered is better than dead, I suppose.

Well at least I'm not in a burning village, and I'm alone.

Scratch that last one, there were two brigands nearby. The first, a cavalier, saw me and charged. He was within the range that I could probably hit him with a flux, out how exactly would I do that?

I felt a surge of power as a missile of dark energy flew out of my hand. Sadly, rather than hitting the cavalier it merely hit a tree, causing it to explode. Of course it wouldn't be that easy, although I certainly didn't expect that of all things. Poor tree.

I dodged out of the way, narrowly avoiding the cavalier's lance.

The cavalier, having missed with his charge, was forced to turn around. This gave me the perfect opportunity to rush in and slash the horse's leg, incapacitating it.

The cavalier got off of his horse and brandished his lance. I narrowly avoided a jab, taking a graze along my shoulder. I winced as I ducked under his lance and grabbed right under the head. That was easier than expected, I thought the triangle would screw me over.

_"Thats our base skill, adaptation: nullifies negative triangle effects."_

Well, that would make things easier.

I felt the cavalier struggle to pull the lance from my hands, and I knew I would have to act quickly. I wasn't very strong, so my grip wouldn't last. I dug my blade into the man's throat, and a large amount of blood began to pour from the man's throat.

Oh God I just killed someone!

_"It's kill or be killed, you can mourn later!"_

I was forced to listen to my shadow as a myrmidon jumped out from behind the trees. The myrmidon struck with his sword as I tried to roll out of the way, landing a long slash along my back. I struck out in response, but the myrmidon easily dodged out of the way. It seemed that he was immensely faster than the cavalier, although that probably should have been obvious.

The myrmidon struck again in an upward slash which I narrowly parried. I jabbed at his head, and he simply tilted his head towards the right before pushing his blade against mine and turning me around completely.

I jumped into a roll, feeling the pain of another slash running down my back. As I rolled, I hit a root which knocked me up into the air, rolling me onto my back.

The myrmidon was standing over me with his sword brandished. As the strike came down, I hastily raised my hands, feeling a pulse of energy running through me. A flux spell flew from my hands, directly hitting the myrmidon's face from point blank. The man's blade dropped to the ground beside me.

I stood up, feeling an immense amount of pain. I looked around and saw the destruction I had caused. I killed two men, there were now two men dead by my hands.

_"This is what you signed up for, isn't it? You knew when you accepted Naga's offer that you would have to kill people, didn't you? If you want to stand a chance against Grima's troops, you will have to be able to at least fight without so much hesitation. If you want to survive, if you want this world to survive, taking lives will be a requirement. Not ones or even tens of lives, but hundreds. Sometimes, the only path to peace is war." _

I know, but-

_"No buts. Survive and thrive or lie and die, those are your options."_

I saw the shapes of more soldiers heading towards my position. There was no way of telling whether they were friend or foe.

_"I suppose this is the best time for you to make the choice, isn't it?"_

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

** Well, this was much shorter than I would have liked, but it is better than the original version and I don't think I have the patience needed to rewrite any more. It still follows the same outline of the original, but now Naga is at least more in-character and certain details were handled better or taken out. **

** For those of you that wish to stay, see you next chapter!**


	2. 2 Shepherds, soldiers, and scorpions

**review answer corner:**

**BunkerSnail: I'm sorry, I like the character, but I don't take review characters because I need to have some way to contact you about any changes I may make.**

**Guest that asked about factions: Think of law as doing whatever is possible to uphold the virtues of society, and chaos as overthrowing the current society to create a new one, I'm sorry if that's too vague ,I can't think of many ways to explain it.**

**Author's note, I can only take one more chaos character(preferably male but it doesn't matter as much for this faction). I can also take three more law characters, in this case I NEED MORE FEMALES, as it is we have five guys compared to three girls, any worse and it will seriously throw off the support system. Also, for anyone who is wondering, this story takes plays three years from now. Anyway, let's get on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem, I only own Kira, another OC that will be introduced, and their shadows.**

_italics: shadow speaking_

_underlined italics:__ both emissary and shadow are in agreement._

_**bold: key terms, such as names, spells, etc.**_

_**All three**_: limit break or other crazy shit

Two members of the group came up to me. Thankfully, it seemed that I was not in any danger as these people were Maribelle and Stahl. I quickly put Yamakiri into my sheath.

"_Don't say anything suspicious, treat this as if you had no idea who these people were."_

Oh really Shade, and here I thought the best plan of action was to rant about how I'm a servant of Naga and get myself thrown in an asylum somewhere.

"What should we do about this one, Stahl?" came a voice from behind me, oh yeah, Maribelle, I almost forgot in my mindless ranting.

"Well judging from the brigands lying on the ground I doubt he could be an enemy."Stahl chuckled. Okay, you're kinda scaring me right now, but I'll let that slide since you're defending me. "Let's wait for the captain to come, we'll see what he thinks of this."

Wait what, captain who's the captain? I survey the area, looking at the other shepherds. There are two people sporting tall wizard hats, Ricken and miriel. I see a shirtless slab of muscle with blond hair, Vaike. Finally my eyes drifted to a man with light brown hair in a military cut. He wore light silver plated armor, covering a fur-lined leather jerkin. He held a gleaming iron spear in his right hand and had a box loaded with javelins strapped to his back.

Shade, quick, I need a status report on this guy.

"_Sure: Knightmare- a slightly tankish class with high strength, defense, resistance and hp at the cost of all magic ability, a massive chunk of his luck, and a small portion of his speed. Once he becomes stronger he will be as terrifyingly brutal as a bear cavalry"_

Well ,I think it's safe to assume this guy is the captain.

"Hey Maribelle!", came the man's voice shouting at us, "Just heal the man already, I seriously doubt he's a danger to us either way!

"Yes sir" she said as she pulled out her mend staff. Wait, did she just agree to assist a "commoner"?

"wow!",said the captain, "You didn't complain over his social status, we're making progress, Mary"

"Well", _ 'Look Kira she's blushing', _"you've shown me that one can come from nothing and still climb to the top, so I'm willing to give this one a chance."

"_Aww, Mary has a crush on the captain."_

Shade, it's not nice to tease.

"_But I ship it"_ _chimed Shade in a tone that was half-serious and half-joking._

The only response I had was to mentally facepalm, wait I forgot something.

"Who are you guys anyway?" I said, feeling the need to move this conversation forward.

"Huh? Oh, I got a little sidetracked." Said the captain

_Well no shit Sherlock, _ wait me and Shade were in sync there for a second.

"My name is **Brutus Argent**, and yours is?"

Wait, Aurum and Argent, gold and silver. Naga has a strange sense of humor.

"_You know they'll think you're batty if you don't give him an answer"._

Oh yeah "My name is Kira Aurum, I am merely a wanderer looking to find work in Ylisse, thank you all for coming to my aid."

The rest of the group came and gave their respective introductions. Through our conversations I learned that Brutus has been here since he was a kid. He is close to the Ylissean royal family, was formerly Frederick's apprentice and is now considered a captain in the military. We were having a nice conversation and were almost ready to head out when…

"Guys, I think we have a problem" I heard Ricken say nervously as he pointed at something. We all turned to see, well…

"What in Hell is that thing?" No answer. Do you know, Shade? 

_It seems to be a fire breathing scorpion sir, it has beast, armor, and wyrm weaknesses, but it is still a very formidable foe, difficulty is at 9/10 _

The creature looked sort of like the Gohma from Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker, although the real deal is MUCH more terrifying than the game. It was about 20 feet tall, with 3 foot claws and a massive tail, which boasted a stinger the size of a broadsword.

Damn, I thought Morgan just made those up to scare Noire. We have our work cut out for us. Brutus launched a javelin towards the Beast, leaving a sizeable crack in its armor, wait what? 

_Iron reaver- an ability that adds armor slayer to basic attacks, difficulty adjusted to 7/10. _

"Why did you agitate that thing?" questioned Maribelle. She had a very good point actually.

"In case you haven't noticed", replied Brutus, "That thing is NOT native to Ylisse. Those brigands were probably prepared to send it out as a last resort. If we don't kill it here, who knows how many people would die."

Okay, so we have no choice but to fight, let's think of a plan… got it!

"Brutus, Ricken, and Miriel, you should stay on top of the ridge and attack it from a range". That way, we'll be dealing bonus damage from three different points while Miriel does chip damage. "Maribelle you stay back and heal when necessary, and Stahl, you stay back and replace one of us if we get injured. Vaike you're coming with me." That way we won't have too many people taking damage at one time.

"And why should we listen to you,traveler?" Brutus said calmly, as if to challenge me.

I turned around, letting my long coat blow around dramatically "Do you have any better ideas perhaps" letting the sarcasm drip through my words.

"How dare you speak so insolently around one of a higher station than your own?" Damn it, Maribelle.

"He's right, Mary, we don't exactly have many options". Thank you, Brutus.

The others gave varying consent, most accepted the plan, albeit begrudgingly (I don't really blame them, I wouldn't trust me either). Others(Vaike) accepted with great enthusiasm.

Vaike and I charged towards the beast. Vaike leaped towards the scorpion.

"Do you smell what the Vaike is cooking?" he brought his axe down onto the crack brutus left and tore off a portion of its armor.

"_Okay, that. Was. Epic."_

Yes, yes it was. I dashed at the scorpion, getting two quick hits in before dodging the scorpion's slow, bulky claws.

"I bet ol' teach is stronger than you." Vaike said from beside me.

"And I'm smarter." I returned.

"The Vaike can take a hit better."

"I'm faster."

"well", Vaike sputtered "Vaike's weapon's bigger than yours."

"Real men use small weapons." I said with a deadpan expression.

Vaike laughed,"You're a pretty good guy, Kira." he said as he barely dodged a blow.

"Same to you, Vaike." I got another quick strike in.

"_Thou art I and I am thou, thou hast established a new-"_

Shut it Shade, this isn't a game.

I charged at the scorpion, feeling a strange burst of speed. I landed two blows then easily danced away from the creature's claws and tail.

"_It seems we have awakened to our trump."_

The hell's a trump?

" _it is the mark of a dragon's emissary, a great blessing that almost always comes with a curse. To this date there has only been one perfect trump, and that may only be a rumor. Our ability is __**devil speed**__\- a form shift skill that doubles our speed and skill in exchange for halving our defenses and resistance. As we have yet to adjust the ability we won't be able to use it for very long."_

I saw Vaike get rammed by the claws, he couldn't handle being in the fray for much longer.

"Get over to Maribelle, I'll hold it off until Stahl gets here."

"But-"

"But nothing!", I shouted, "You have a duty to your country, and it's not to risk your life for someone you just met!"

Vaike's expression turned somber " Aye, sir." and he ran towards the healer.

I charged again, surrounded by the literal cover fire , along with spurts of Elwind and Brutus's javelins. I struck the hellish arachnid as many times as I could, dodging claws and the massive tail, occasionally seeing balls of fire shoot towards the back row.

Suddenly, I saw the tail shoot towards Maribelle and Vaike. I dashed as fast as I could, running ahead of the tail, but my trump ended when I was still about twenty meters away from the two, and I felt my speed and defenses shift back to normal. The Scorpion saw that the thorn in its side had become optimal prey, and brought its sword-tail down.

The blade entered the right side of my chest, causing me to yelp in pain.

"_At least it wasn't on the left side, then you would be on your way to the grave."_

But still, even if I haven't known these guys long, they have become comrades to me, and the monster tried to kill them. Fury roared through me as I set my hand on the tail. I felt a massive surge of power as I let dark energy flow through my hand.

**Fluxuate**

My magic ran along the tail, and severed the blade from the rest of the tail.

Black began to spec my vision, and I knew I didn't have much time left.

"_You just used up about half of that tome."_

Then what better time is there use the rest of it than now?

"_Good point"_

I weakly raised my hand, charging up power, and I said the incantation of a spell that was sadly a mere imitation of the original .

"Would you please", I said with a faint smirk, "_**Die for me?"**_ and then it all faded to black.

Brutus pov

I watched as needles of dark energy pierced the scorpion's shell.

_"The boy has great raw power, but he has no idea how to control it yet."_

You took the words out of my mouth, Octavian.

I channeled all my strength into my legs, leaping off of the cliff towards the beast, Bringing my spear down on top of the creature's head.

"Exhausting Strike" I yelled, plunging the tip into the scorpion's head.

The best gave one final screech, before collapsing on the ground.

I felt my muscles tighten in pain from my trump's recoil, and quickly dove down to the others.

Mary was currently healing Kira, who was in by far the worst shape out of all of us. The others were applying vulneraries to Vaike so that he can still keep going if Mary's staff ran broke.

I took a closer look at Kira, how could Naga have been so worried about this one mortal?

_"According to Naga, this boy could have potentially ended up falling into Grima's hands. You saw his power, if the fell dragon tempered him as his own weapon, it would tip the scales permanently into his favor. Luckily, the boy seems to have at least partially regain what was missing. If he and our other companions are given the proper training, we may actually win this war."_

I looked at the others and spoke "Once he is healed, we must take him with us."

Miriel was the first to speak " Would it really be in our best interests to bring him with us? What if he declines our offer?"

I responded "He said he was looking for work and that is what we'll give him, he has no reason to decline. We are taking him, and that's final."

Kira pov

I woke up on the… roof of a building?

"_I see you've woken up, it's nice to meet you in person."_said a figure wearing my long coat, except rather than having simple leather armor stitched on to it, his coat came with samurai armor, helm, leg bracers and all. He had the cowl covering his face and the hood up, so the only feature I could see was his glowing yellow eyes piercing the darkness.

"_When you first died, everything other than this building had gone dark. I had thought you became a hollow shell, but then a few of the lights began to return. You had lost your way, but you are slowly becoming your old self again."_

"Who are you?" I couldn't hold the question in any longer.

"_Why I'm Shade, of course. Do you know why the city went dark, perhaps? _How the hell am I supposed to know something like that? Wait, everything went dark except for this one building,**alone**.

"It's because I found myself alone, right?" ,Shade nodded sagely, "and the lights are coming back because I'm creating bonds with new people?"

_"Well, since you seem to realize where your strength comes from", Shade said calmly, "I guess it's time to begin making our plans for the future, follow me." _Shade ran and jumped off the side of the building.

Well, I gulped, I guess I have no other choice. I off and jumped after him.

**Will anyone find out what game Brutus is a reference to?What are Shade and Kira planning? What does Shade look like? Will I ever get to the canon? Find out next time on Emblem OC!**


	3. Shadowboxing

**Review answer corner:**

**Ace: The three years means three years in our world, as for Ylisse, you will find out in this chapter.**

**Author's notes: I am now taking review OCs as well as PMs, I will change the summary when the cast is filled up. I still need two more female characters for the law side (I finally got a non-human character yay!) and one more character for the chaos side.**

**Disclaimer: I do not open Fire Emblem, I do however own The borderline Gary Stu that is Kira and the badasses that are Brutus and Shade.**

As we landed on the ground, I took a look at the city, despite the small number of lights the place held a sort of luster to it.

_"It's beautiful down here, isn't it." _ Shade said as if reading my thoughts, maybe he did.

"It has its charms.", I stated calmly, "Where are we going any way?"

_"A new cafe just opened up on mainstreet and I want to check it out."_

"Is that really a good place to plan our way through a war?" I asked incredulously. Why the hell would we plan something like that.

"_Relax a little, would you?" Shade stated calmly, "It's hard to leak secrets when all the residents are fragments of yourself."_

I looked around and saw that all the people looked familiar, all bearing the faces of people I had met in my old life.

I checked out the buildings as we passed, there was Vaike's gym, Argent coliseum, chateau Maribelle, and the university of magic, with a wing each for Ricken and Miriel.

We finally reached the Man of steel cafe, opening the door slowly.

As we entered, We were greeted by Stahl, "Ahh, the big bosses decided to come to the grand opening." he said with a bright smile.

_"I should have known this was yours", shade said slyly, " pun well played, Mann aus Stahl."_

We both placed our orders and sat at a table.

_"So", Shade began slowly, "let's start with what we'll do about Maribelle's kidnapping."_

_Brutus pov_

We were marching on the path back to Ylisstol, alternately shifting our now- deadweight friend between Maribelle and Stahl's horses in order to keep from overly straining either one.

"_Are you certain we can handle taking him all the way back? It IS a three day journey you know."_

We'll just have to grin and bear it, Octavian, we can't exactly leave another servant of Naga laying out to die, you know.

"_He'll probably be begging you to take him back after he sees what your training is like."_

I don't think he's that flimsy, he was doing pretty well considering he couldn't have been on this world for more than a couple of hours yet.

"_Yes, but that scorpion was nothing compared to the hell you'll put him through."_

True, oh gods they let him fall. I heaved a heavy sigh, this is going to be a looong three days.

Kira pov

After we finished making a rough plan for the war, I realized how little information I actually had. "So what can you tell me about what's going on? Why was I chosen of all people? How are Naga's forces so much weaker than Grima's? What are the abilities we can have? What was that perfect trump you mentioned earlier? Wh-"

_"Okay, okay, I get it, you need answers and we haven't given you any. I guess I should start off with the reason you were chosen, it's because you are extremely similar to the exalted line, and to an extent, Naga herself.", He must have caught my confused look because he immediately began to elaborate, " You aren't especially strong by yourself, but you draw strength from your friends. You are inherently stubborn and determined, but your hard work goes nowhere without the help of others. You always give your friends support, and share in their happiness and sorrows. You are the type who would march straight into Hell itself if it meant keeping those close to you safe. That is what makes you a prime candidate to become one of Naga's emissaries."_

_ "As for the second, Naga and Grima aren't really any stronger than each other, in a one on one fight Grima would win but if you gave them each an army, then Naga's forces would crush his, no questions asked. But the main problem is drawing forces from another realm, it is rare for any divine dragon or other holy entity to call upon others to become a creator of the law. On the other hand, the fell bloods and other malevolent beings have made it into a tradition. Entire races have been created due to dark beings seeking out liaisons, every form of hybrid race in the worlds have roots entangled among this tradition, although they also have a bit of order in their origin story."_

_ "And to answer about the abilities, there are four types of trumps: Combative, passive, form-shift and auxiliary. Combative abilities allow one to use a powerful attack in the middle of battle in exchange for some form of recoil. Passive trumps have some special ability that activate based on certain conditions. Form-shifts are like your own trump, they allow one to alter their fighting styles in exchange for adding to a certain weakness, in some cases these can almost pass as basic abilities and can be easily mastered and used as much as wanted, Yours is anything but, it will take several months if not years for you to master. Auxiliary abilities cover just about everything else, they can do anything at some cost, such as requiring a long time to activate."Shade took a long sip of his coffee, his throat becoming sore from all the talking._

_ " A perfect trump is a theoretical ability that can change the tide of battle, be used infinitely and has no adverse effects on the user whatsoever. If rumors are to be believed, then this may not be theoretical any longer. Any more questions?"._

Yes, one what do you look like under that hood?" Shade looked at me with disturbing glee, and his mouth seemed to glow as his expression shifted into a villain-in-glasses smile.

_"Let's go back up to the skyscraper, if you can pass a little test of mine then I'll let you see."_

_Brutus pov_

On the night of the first day we set up our camp in the woods. For once, everything was calm as we sat by the fire talking about the past day.

"He's still asleep, huh?" said Ricken.

"He deserves his rest, he came up with that plan,you know." Yes ,stahl, yes he did.

"That last spell should have been far beyond his capabilities, maybe I should use him for some experiments." Really,Miriel?

"Teach doesn't think you should do that, the Vaike is still recovering from the LAST time you did something like that".

"I agree with Vaike on that one, not even the worst street rats deserve a fate such as that."

"Besides", I said with an evil grin, "I need him in good shape so he can survive my training." Everyone shuddered at this knowing that Frederick's fitness hour had nothing in the Argent gauntlet.

Everything was calm after that, until-

"Ricken, just what the hell were you planning on doing with that quill?" The boy immediately turned tail and ran.

_Kira pov_

We went to the place that I now refer to as the memory skyscraper, with the area's resemblance to the City that Never Was from Kingdom Hearts.

"So what is this challenge I must complete?" I asked, curious.

_"You must land a scratch somewhere other than my hands", Shade said as he held his hands out wide, "I will us nothing other than hand to hand combat and defensive spells."_

That shouldn't be hard, I thought as I charged at him. I gave a strong swift strike which he caught easily with his hand, using the other to nail me in the gut and knock me back.I heard music begin to play in the background.

_"Wir haben noch einen langen Weg vor uns."_

Is this what I think this is? I thought as I gave another strike, only for him to grab my blade out of my hands.

"_Jetzt ist Schluss mit lustig",he made swinging motions at the air, "Denn ich hab' erkannt". He makes staff-like motions with my sword, then throws it at my feet._

Not only is he fighting me bare handed, he's singing disney songs in german while he does it.

I kept launching blow after blow, doing less than nothing. He caught or dodged every strike, as if he knew what attack I would use before I did.

_"Geheimnisvoll zugleich so wie, der Mond!"_

As the song ended, I got in closer about to land a crit, when-

_"Vector shift"._

I was promptly sent flying back by an immense blast of wind, Accelerator style.

_"Better, but you're still not at your best, yesterday you used a C- rank spell with an E-rank tome." The music changed again, to Monsters by Matchbook Romance. "Girl, what's come between you and me", I launched a strike, only for him to fade into the shadows. He came back up and gave me a mocking grin._

So my shadow, named Shade, is singing **this** song while fighting me on top of memory skyscraper and using vector shift, how many references can one guy make mid-battle?

. I gave a hard push into a charge, and the cycle repeated again.

_ "We are, we are the monsters, we are the monsters, underneath your , believe what you read."_

I was finally catching onto his fighting style, each blow getting closer and closer to their mark.

_He hit the last refrain of the song "... Believe what you see."_

I reached out my blade as far as possible, barely landing a scratch on his chest.

"_It seems we may stand a chance." Shade said, now lifting up his hood. He had short brown hair, with a small scar beside his right eye. His eyes, which had seemed yellow before, were a bright hazel, with each side alternating between brown and green. _

_ "Before you go back out into the world, remember this", Shade began, "You may be a pawn now, but pawns can be promoted, while others will eventually hit a wall in their growth, you will always be able to reach higher. If used properly, even the weakest pawn can become the strongest piece on the board."_

As he finished his statement, I felt myself being dragged back where I belong.

_Kira pov, Ylisse_

"Hey look, sleeping beauty over here's awake." I heard Brutus say as I begin to open my eyes.

"Where are we at?" I asked as I sat up on Maribelle's horse.

"We're a few hours outside of Ylisstol, also, get off of Mary's horse before the poor thing collapses from exhaustion." Ouch, as soon as I wake up this guy makes me march.

_"Just deal with it, you pansy."_

You aren't the one starting the morning off with a march, Shade.

_" You should be used to it, with all those morning runs you used to do."_

There is a difference, I actually liked doing that. Well, I thought as I rummaged through our supplies for a quill and parchment I could use, I might as well make this a learning experience.

I walked over to Ricken, preparing to take notes. "Hey Ricken, can you teach me about magic?"

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Well, I could use a little help with some of the more complicated theories of spell structure and control."

"Are you certain that we shouldn't start off with something a little, I don't know, simpler?"

"Well, I figured I wouldn't be able to get your help once we're in the capitol, so I'll learn the hard stuff from you since I won't understand a thing Miriel tells me if she teaches me anything other than the fundamentals." I rubbed the back of my head, embarrassed to admit my incomprehension of Miriel's speech.

"Why wouldn't I be able to teach you?"

"You aren't officially in the shepherds, are you?"

"How did you-" Ricken began, only to be cut off.

"Because the prince **definitely **seems like the kind of guy to send someone your age to the frontline." I said sarcastically. "It's not that you are weak or anything, you are as skilled as any other mage out there, but I doubt he would be able to live with himself if you were killed in battle. If you want to be on the frontline, then you will have to show him that you're going whether he likes i or not."

"Wow, I never really thought about it like that, you may be right." ,Ricken said thoughtfully, "A-anyway, we should probably get to your lesson, we don't really have much time before we reached the capitol.

Ricken gave me the abridged version of the theories, and I took as many notes as possible. I felt as if I truly understood every word of the lecture. I shouldn't have too much trouble connecting it with Miriel's future lessons, assuming I could decipher my own horrible handwriting.

As we reached the capitol,I had another question to ask. "By the way, I could have swore I felt the tip of a quill touching my face a couple of nights ago, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"N-no of course not.",He said nervously, "Gottagobye!" Ricken rushed towards the distance. Well, at least his house should be nearby.

_"It's too easy to mess with that kid."_

Yes, Shade, yes it is.

_"By the way, it seems you now have a c support with Ricken."_

You don't have to tell me when I get a support, okay actually just tell me whenever I get near S territory.

_"Also, it seems that supports work a little bit differently than in the game, you don't necessarily have to fight alongside someone to initiate a support, you just have to meet the other person's requirements for it."_

That is very good to know, thank you for the information.

"Hey guys, we should probably stop for a bit."Stahl said behind me,

"Is there any particular reason we should stop in the middle of town?" Brutus asked.

"Yes, sir" He pointed at a large crowd. I saw that a parade was going on, with Emmeryn at the center.

The game did not do the woman justice. While she had already looked regal, it couldn't compare to the real thing. She was absolutely radiant, the shining light of her people. It was easy to see why the commoners adored her so much.

"So, what do you think of our dear exalt?" Brutus asked, materialising at my side.

"She is amazing" I said, stunned.

"I thought you would say something along those lines", Brutus smiled, " Let's head to the castle.

As we reached the throne room we heard voices coming from inside.

"Do they have your trust, Chrom?"Emmeryn's lines from before the north road.

_"Wait, she said them."_

That she did, Shade. Either there is another of us with them or- I walked into the throne room and saw both the male and female avatars, the female with fully default settings, and the same for the male aside from his black hair.

Holy shit there's two of them.

"Yes, they helped us to save Ylissean lives." , Chrom said as he turned noticing our presence. "Hello Brutus, how was your patrol?"

"It was pretty good, aside from the huge ass scorpion that could breath fire."

The two began to relay the events of the past few days to each other.

"Warriors rising from the grave in order to battle, that's not something you see everyday." Brutus said, unnerved.

"I'm sorry, but could you please introduce us to your friends?" The female Robin said sweetly.

"Oh, right. Guys, this is Robin.", Chrom pointed at the silver haired girl, "and this is Khrow." he pointed to the dark haired man.

He began introducing each of us to the twins.

"And this is-" Chrom began, "actually Brutus, who is this?"

"Is he Plegian?" Frederick questioned angrily.

"This is Kira Aurum.", Brutus introduced me calmly, "And no, Frederick, I highly doubt this man is Plegian, especially since he killed two brigands AND helped us fight off a potential threat to Ylisse."

"That means nothing, anyone can become a threat eventually." Frederick retorted.

"Nevertheless, he will be a member of the shepherds, so long as Chrom allows it." Brutus stated firmly.

"He really was a big help."Stahl said.

"He gave ol' teach a run for his money out there." Vaike agreed.

"He would be a great subject." miriel said, scaring me a bit.

"He may be a buffoon, but he's our buffoon." Thank you, Maribelle.

"It looks like you're overruled." Chrom smiled.

"Well I still don't agree with it, both he and the twins seem very suspicious."Frederick argued fervently.

"I can understand you not trusting me or Khrow, we do seem a little suspicious," I pointed at Robin, "but does this look like the face of evil to you?" To emphasize my point, she gave an adorable pout.

"W-well I…" Frederick giggled, and everyone else began to laugh except for Frederick who looked aggravated and Khrow who kept a blank expression.

"Fine, but know that I disapprove of this." Frederick said.

I leaned in toward Robin and whispered conspiratorially "Hey, we can make a club of people who Frederick hates."

"We could call it Frederick's worries." she responded, giggling.

"Welcome to the Shepherds", Chrom stated, "I'm looking forward to working with you. Let me show you guys the barracks."

"Actually", Emmeryn chimed, "I would like to speak in private with Brutus and Kira."

The others left, even Phila, who had not so much as spoken the entire time I had been in there. It was now just the three of us.

"I am honored to meet a second of Naga's servants." I stood stock still in shock. "I still remember that day so many years ago when Brutus, no more than a child, came to us ranting incoherently about being sent by the divine dragon." She smiled, "None of the others in the castle believed his story, but I did, and now, he comes with another of his kind. Now I must ask you, as a servant of Naga, what do you think of my attempts at peace?"

**We are starting to make progress, hopefully only one more chapter of filler before we get to the actual plot, and only a couple of chapters until more of the cast is introduced.**

**Welp, see you next time. Until then, I must bid you adieu.**


	4. preparations

**Author's notes: Well there aren't really any reviews that I need to answer this time, although I did get some good advice from Cormag . I have finally filled that last antagonist space, although now one person has two OC's. I had wanted to keep a rule of one OC per person, but no one seemed to want that space and the character will be pretty interesting if I manage to write him properly.**

** Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem, the day I do will be the day money starts falling from the sky. **

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So, the freaking queen- er, exalt- is asking ME of all people what I think of her attempts at peace.

_"Seriously, that's like asking aquaman for advice about becoming a superhero, it just doesn't make any sense."_

Thanks for that wonderful encouragement, Shade.

I answered as well as I could, "I feel that you are making great strides towards peace." I saw Emmeryn give a small smile. "However, if this world is anything like where I come from, then peace may only come after both sides have been torn apart by war. While I would like to say this has already happened, it seems we are still facing the aftermath of your father's actions."

"Then you do not believe there is any chance of settling our conflict peacefully?" Emmeryn questioned.

"I feel that war is inevitable, it will come no matter what happens. Until that day comes, kill them with kindness. Build up your armies while they aren't paying attention, so that they will underestimate us. Try for peace if possible, but always be prepared for war. Either way, you have given me a new home, so I will follow your orders as far as the pits of Hell."

To be honest, I think the war with Gangrel would have had a chance of being resolved. The Plegian war is not a major threat, however, I doubt sunshine and rainbows will stop Validar and commander crustacean when they come.

Emmeryn seemed to begrudgingly accept my response, while Brutus gave a confident grin.

"I agree with Kira, we need to be prepared for anything.", he said with a sly grin, "Too bad his blade isn't as sharp as his words are."

Seriously man, I helped you out earlier.

"_He does have a point, if you didn't have a plus ten sword of awesome you would have died three times over by now."_

Fine, I get it, I still have a ways to go.

Something struck me "Wait you guys don't have any more of us in your numbers?" We have twice as many people as Grima's men, I was expecting a small army.

"_Hopefully we'll at least be able to form a five man band."_

"Well,",Brutus fidgeted a bit, "There is one more, but she has been in this world just as long as I have and doesn't remember much about our home. She also doesn't like attention much which makes it very difficult to get her in front of Emm."

"Okay, noted." I'll need to speak with her later, we need to get a bit of a team going here. I turned to Emmeryn "By the way,can I access the library?". There are some materials I really need to find.

"Yes, you may access all features of the castle as you wish." She gave a bright smile.

"Are there any tomes in there? I kinda fried my only good flux." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

"Yes, we keep the basics of every branch in the magical knowledge section." That is really convenient, I would be screwed in an actual battle without some magic.

I bowed respectfully, "Thank you, dear exalt, I will now take my leave."

Time to gather some study materials.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brutus showed me to the library, where I found an immense amount of books.

"Wow, this place is amazing." I could barely hold in my awe.

"Really? I've never cared all that much for books, so I guess I wouldn't know." Brutus said simply.

I searched the library , quickly finding wind and flux tomes. Sadly, they only had the basics, so we will still need to purchase any higher level tomes. What we have here should suffice for a while, at least.

A further search netted me some books on magic control, auxiliary spells, and basic tactics.I also found several books which had shockingly similar names to things from home, such as The Adventures of Wyvern man and Robin, The Grimleal Instruments: Village of Shadows, and who could forget Oifey Sesar and the Valmeseans. Yep, none of these sound like fanmade parodies of my favorite books and comics.

"_At least there isn't a version of Kingdom Hearts or Persona 3."_

Good point, I would be wrecking the entire place if that were to happen.

I heard the voice of Brutus behind me, " Judging from your interest in these books, I'd say it's a safe bet to say you were a scholar in our old world."

"Of a sort.", I responded, "I had been studying to become a history professor, but I guess that's all in the past." I reached for a detailed history of Ylisse and Altea, trying not to think about my old home.

"Not used to it yet, huh?" Brutus gave me a sad look, then continued, "I had thought you were already recovering, since you were calm during the battle."

"You don't exactly get time to freak out over anything when you are immediately faced with two enemy soldiers followed by a fight with an eldritch abomination." I gave a small smile, "Don't worry, I'll get over it. What I've lost, I'll build back up. I may have lost my home, but you guys have given me a new one. I won't freak out over my circumstances, if I freak out then I'm dead. Besides, it's not like I can do anything about my situation."

Brutus took a step forward, " We may as well get going, the others are probably waiting for us."

As we were walking, I asked Brutus something that made me curious. "Do you have any dreams?"

"Yes, I want to be like the legendary paladin Jagen."

"I'd say you don't have too far to go, judging from your performance in the last battle."

"I still have a long way to go, I can barely take Frederick on when he's wielding a sword. Not only is that his weakest weapon, it's also at a major disadvantage to my fighting style."

"How strong is he with a lance?"

"I once saw the man take on a bear the size of the scorpion from yesterday with no armor or mount, just that silver lance."

We continued talking like this the entire way to the barracks.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

We went to the barracks, and went through what was basically the same dialogue from before chapter two. There was one difference, however, we had an extra unit among the group. She wore a long black trench coat with a black version of the trickster hat, marked by a red feather. She had long red hair, similar to an Anna's. This must be the other one of us that Brutus mentioned.

After a nudge from Chrom, she introduced herself as **Crimson.**

"_This one's a Rogue, they are exceedingly skilled thieves who are adept with knives. They might not be the best units to throw at a wall of knights, but they are great for throwing the enemies out of formation."_

Thank you for the analysis, Shade, that will come in handy later.

I noticed something that had to be addressed, and leaned towards Brutus.

"So you have a thing for the princess, huh?" I whispered mischievously.

"Is it really that obvious?"He asked incredulously.

I nodded "As obvious as the brand on Chrom's arm, I don't know how the girl hasn't noticed."

"Hey Brutus, do you have time for a spar?"Crom cut in, oblivious to the conversation we were having.

"Sure, I could use a workout." Brutus agreed and the two walked towards the castle's training grounds. Sumia followed, wishing to watch. She also tripped a couple times as she left.

"_Brutus is like the male version of Cordelia." _

That he is, Shade, that he is.

Welp, time to study some magic.

I walked over to a small table and pulled out my book. Miriel noticed and walked up to me.

"I see that you are studying magic refinement. Here are some hypotheses I have made on the subject, as well as some other useful notes." As if she had never come to begin with, she disappeared leaving only her notes.

I took a good look at the notes, trying to make sense of them. I found them riddled with scientific observations and complex equations.

"_How many digits of pi did this woman write here?"_

Two hundred and ninety seven, Sho Minamimoto would be rolling in his grave right now.

"_His virtual grave, you mean."_

Hey if Fire Emblem can be real, why can't The World ends With You be the same?

"_That is a good point, actually."_

Robin seemed to notice my struggle and walked up to me.

"Do you need any help?" She asked.

"Yes please, I'm getting a migraine just looking at this!" it's not that I'm bad at math, but it wasn't exactly my major, either.

"Okay, let's take a look." She quickly glanced over the notes. "First off, let's take a different route than the mathematical approach. Become the element you are using."

"Yeah, because it's so easy to become wind and pure darkness."I said sarcastically.

She tried to give an angry look, but it only made her look adorable. "When you use wind, Imagine a small breeze becoming a raging gale. When you use fire, think of a tiny spark growing into an immense bonfire. When using thunder, let a tiny jolt expand as it travels through your enemy. When you use darkness, let insanity overtake you."

"I think I get the gist of it, can you help me practice?"

"Sure, let's go." And we walked off to the magic range.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"So, do you have any hobbies?" Robin asked as we launched rounds of our respective magic.

"Yeah, I enjoy reading, running, and swimming." Among other things that don't exist in this world.

"So you are both fairly athletic and scholarly?"

"I never thought of it that way, but I guess so."

"If only I was like that. My magic is strong, but I'm pretty bad with a sword. The opposite can be said for my brother."

"Now hold up; I said I was athletic, athletic doesn't always mean strong. I am quick, maybe, but I am not 's a reason I wield a rapier instead of a regular sword, I would never last a full battle swinging one of those around."

"So you use cunning, not brute force."

"Not really, I'm just going to choose my battles carefully. Even the weakest units can cut past the armor of a myrmidon or mercenary, and mounted and armored opponents are no problem against a rapier. What I can't cut, I can probably blow apart with magic."

"_You are about as cunning as a cow with a mental illness._"

Come on Shade, I know I'm not the most subtle person in the world but I'm not THAT bad.

"Assuming you can get a decent spell in.", Robin cut in, "Your magic is getting better, but it's still unstable. You should be able to make it for the moment, but don't try anything risky. You should probably go get something to eat, shouldn't you? If I remember what Brutus and the others said correctly, you were unconscious for a couple of days."

At this, my stomach gurgled loudly. "Yeah, I guess I should head down. I'll see you later, Robin." I said as I felt my face turn red.

I walked back to the barracks, where I had an intense discussion about food with Stahl.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Brutus pov_

I felt shock through my lance as I blocked Chrom's attack. It seemed that Chrom had grown stronger over the past few days, however, - I pushed Chrom backwards and gave a quick sweeping strike that he barely parried- so had I. He gave two alternating strokes that I fluidly parried. While we both loved sparring with the other shepherds, our best matches were always with each other. We were equal every step of the way, giving each other the push we needed to become stronger.

We were locked in a dance of blades. Chom swung his blade, I parried and riposted. Chrom went for a sliding strike, which I flipped over. As soon as I landed Chrom was airborne, aiming to crash down on me. I swept my lance with as much force as possible to the side of his blade, and we were both brought to the ground. We got up, charged towards each other, and-

I held my lance toward his heart, and he had his blade at my throat.

It was a draw.

"You fought well, as to be expected of the prince of Ylisse."

"The same to you, as to be expected of Frederick's former squire."

" I was hoping we would be able to finally figure out which one of us is the better warrior, but I guess the score is still even." I said, amused by this turn of events.

" You and I both know who would win if we both used swords." Chrom retorted.

" 'A prince must be prepared to face any obstacle in his path.', right?" I said, mimicking Frederick's voice.

" Except for pebbles or any other literal obstacle in my path." Chrom grinned jokingly.

I looked and saw Kira being dragged towards the training arena by the male tactician. What was his name again?

" _It was Khrow, I believe. Sir, you need to learn to remember people's names better."_

Thank you Octavian.

"Hey Chrom, let's watch this. I would like to see how the rookies stack up against each other."

XXXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

Just my luck, one of the strongest fighters in the group decided to use me as a training dummy. Why can't I just get a little rest?

"_Because there ain't no rest for the wicked. Money don't grow on trees…"_

Quit singing Shade. I don't even like that song.

"You better focus before you lose your head.", Krow said teasingly before growing serious, "There are two ways to win. Either you land three solid blows, or you land what would normally be a killing blow."

He brandished his blade, holding it slightly to the side so that he could defend just as easily as attack. I held my own outward in a basic fencing stance, or at least a flynning stance. I'm not sure whether this is actually proper.

"Let us begin." Khrow gave a sideways strike that I barely managed to parry. I skidded a good foot, barely staying on my feet. I saw Khrow grin mockingly. The man was toying with me!

Looks like my defense won't be enough, I better go with speed. I activated my trump and dodged Khrows next strike, quickly rushing in for a counter.

Khrow easily deflected my strikes as if They were nothing. He gave another strike which I dodged and countered with a flurry of blows, only to be blocked.

This cycle repeated a couple more times. Khrow gave another strike. This time I leapt as far back as possible, then jumped to flip over him and go for a critical. As I was in midair, I felt my devil speed receding.

Khrow met me as I was mid- flip. He disarmed me and rammed my shoulder with the flat of his blade, strike one. He slammed my gut a hard as he could, strike two. As we landed, he held the training sword to my throat. Strike three, and I'm out.

Most of my body was numb while he wasn't even fazed.

"_Did that guy just do a shoryuken on us?"_

Yes, Shade. I have come to the conclusion that physics don't work here.

"_Nope, all we have here is Nintendo logic."_

Great.

"Your speed and precision were well above average, however your strikes were weak and predictable. I don't want any weaklings like you on our team." Khrow said in a matter-of-fact tone.

" He may be weak now, but I see potential in him. Give him time and I'm sure he will become a fine unit." Robin said, arriving at the scene.

" I'll listen to you for now, but I don't want any needless casualties.", Khrow looked from Robin to Chrom, "Can we have a strategy meeting for tomorrow's operation?".

The others nodded and walked away, leaving only me and Brutus standing there.

"Hey Kira, could you come with me? I have something I need to talk to you about."

I followed him out of the training area.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As we walked off we picked up Crimson. We were all currently sitting in a field a mile or two away from the castle.

"So", Brutus began, "Can you tell us about our world? Neither of us remember any of it."

"Now where should I begin?" I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. " There are massive cities with buildings that stretch towards the clouds. We had horseless carriages capable of making week-long trips in a matter of hours. Our world has screens that can show any play one wished to see from the comfort of home. There were vehicles that could fly higher than any bird can."

The others looked at me in astonishment.

I continued, " My own home was admittedly smaller than Ylisstol, but I could access these technologies as well, these things were extremely common there. What was it like for you guys, living here?"

Brutus began, " I have spent most of my life here in the castle. I was trained by the finest knights and given some of the best treatment one can find in this world. I have made many friends and have a place to call home, that is more than some others can hope for." Brutus looked sadly towards Crimson, who began her own story.

" I have spent my entire life on the streets. I had to steal to survive, and run from any guard in sight. Many merchants and members of the black market thrived off of my business, while others had to chase me down to get their own share of bread. I was being chased by a particularly large group of guards when the shepherds found and recruited me."

I saw Brutus reaching for something in his pack. He pulled out a set of strange looking potions and a hefty training sword. Crimson reached into her own and pulled out a turret-like object with harpoons sticking out.

"It's time for your training." Brutus said. He pointed at various objects, "These potions are ethers. They allow a soldier to swiftly recover from fatigue, but they are useless in combat because you have to stay still for ten minutes after drinking them. This sword is weighted and will help you build up some muscle on those tiny arms of yours. And that," He points at the weird turret in Crimson's hands, "Is-"

"Our special training tool." Crimson cut in. "It will help you learn to use you trump properly. We can't help you very much with that by ourselves, since it hurts Brutus to use his trump and you wouldn't survive fifteen seconds against mine. With this we should be able to help you master your abilities."

"Let's begin." Brutus stated, instantly throwing me into hours of Hell.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The moon was already up high by the time I got back to the barracks. I collapsed onto my bed, hoping I would get a decent amount of sleep before the trip to Ferox.

**xxxxxxxxx**

** Well, I finally got the chapter finished. I had been sitting on half a chapter for a week, unable to find time to write. This past week has been crazy but things seem to be calming down a little (Don't ask.) . I hope I can get the next one finished sooner. See you guys next time!**


	5. River fords and zombie hordes

**Review Answer Corner**

** Cormag:Thanks man! And I do like how Crimson is turning out, although I will probably avoid writing her pov in the future.**

** Disclaimer: I will never have nearly enough money to on Fire Emblem.**

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

We had been marching for hours, or should I say walking. It's not exactly to keep a steady march when you don't have enough people to form the proper lines. Even then, all the differences in armor and mounts would cause everyone to fall out of step. It would just be one huge mess.

I realized something I had never really noticed before. "Hey Brutus, who is left to guard the castle and march patrols? I can't imagine you all would leave Ylisstol unprotected."

" The knights, mage corps and pegasus riders are staying behind on guard duty. The patrols, on the other hand will be led by my squad. I trust them to take care of any brigands while we are gone."

At least they aren't leaving the place exposed to attacks. Speaking of exposed, is that the bone of a risen I see there?

"Oh gods! More of these damn things." I heard Khrow say from in front of me.

"Ugh, I should have expected something like this." Robin joined in.

"Got a plan?" Chrom asked the duo.

"Always." The tacticians said in sync.

" Frederick, Sully, and Stahl will go to the left side." Robin began.

"Chrom and Virion, you'll come to the right to kick some ass with us." Krow continued.

"Vaike-" Robin was cut off.

" Dammit, where's my axe? I know I had it a minute ago!" great job, Vaike.

"Butus, Kira, you protect Vaike." Robin said, annoyed.

"Crimson, go crazy." Khrow stated simply.

"That's my specialty." she said and ran into the fray.

XXXXXXXXXX

_Crimson pov_

I dashed by a fighter and a mymidon, cutting into their armor and grabbing two bullions.

I placed them into the endless pouch Naga gave me. Every soldier has a hiding place for their valuables, but they are easy to detect when you know what to look for.

I quickly dodged the blows they tried to land. These risen may look scary as all Hell, but they are slower than the average guard. I continued to steal more stuff while running away from attacks. Anna's gonna love the haul that I'll bring her next time I see her.

"_Which one? I swear there are thousands of them." _

You know, the only one I actually know well? The one who got us set up with the black market and gives us deals? Really, Vincent, you should know this by now.

_" Oh yeah, THAT Anna. Why do they all have the same name anyway? Doesn't it get confusing?"_

Why do you go by Vincent? Isn't that a weird name for a female shadow?

_ "Hey! It's not weird, it's unique."_

And the uniformity of the Annas makes them unique

"_Fine. By the way, you should watch your head."_

I rolled out of the way of an axe. I saw an arrow nail the wielder in the head, and a jackass with a bow in front of me.

"It looks like you are in need of some assistance, milady." Oh gods I'm hating him more and more by the second.

" I think we have that covered, Virion." OH THANK NAGA it's Robin and Khrow.

Okay, I should focus less on the money and more on the battle. I stabbed a myrmidon in the rib twice, making sure i was dead. I turned and saw Khrow surrounded by risen, with a thief charging behind him.

"Try not to lose your head!" I said as I threw a knife that slammed into the thief's skull.

_"Boom headshot!"_

It would help if you took this situation more seriously, Vincent.

" Nice pun, Crimson." Khrow chuckled.

_"You were saying?"_

Shut up.

A large mass of risen assembled in front of us, however, it seemed the tacticians were ready.

I watched as Khrow leapt into the air, lifting his sword. Robin raised her hand, sending streaks of lightning onto Khrow's blade. Khrow brought his blade down, and tendrils of sparks destroyed several of the risen.

Sadly, this barely put a dent into the horde.

"_We should probably use THAT technique."_

But we could hurt the others, I thought as I threw a spread of knives, wounding several risen but only killing one or two.

_"They will easily tear through any of these corpses that we leave behind. These things are too flimsy to harm your friends, but if we leave them in a horde like this they may be overtaken. Frederick and the others can clean up the mess left after, besides, Kira's group is on the way to finish them off."_

I leapt as far as I could into the horde. Fine, let's get it over with.

XXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

We ran towards the others, ready to help fend off the horde. We came into the middle of the group, adding structure to the formation.

On the left, the mounted units fended off a squadron of mercenaries and myrmidons. Frederick was striking the enemies down in a violent dance, sending them flying as if he were the Hulk. Sully and Stahl were moving in unison as if the two were one person.

To my right, Khrow and Chrom were slashing wildly at the horde, joining together to become a human blender. Robin and Virion were launching rounds at the enemies from afar, raining Hell down upon them. Crimson was- wait where the hell was Crimson?

I saw A blur of black and red in the distance. Crimson had abandoned her throwing knives for the time being. Now she brandished a dagger in her left hand and an iron sword in her left. Mind explaining what's going on, Shade?

"_This seems to be her trump. Insanity- doubles all parameters other than vitality, but clouds the user's mind, blurring the line between friend and foe."_

Great, we'll have no problem getting rid of the risen, but Crimson will demolish us afterwards.

A large crowd of risen formed before us.

Miriel glanced at me "I believe it would maximize our capabilities if we combined our skills."

I smiled "Let's give it a shot!."

Miriel launched a fireball "Prepare to combust!"

I launched wind, expanding the flames " I hope you enjoy your stay at Hell hotel! I heard room 666 is simply fabulous!"

" It seems your magic has gotten a little more stable!" Robin said cheerfully.

"How can you tell?"I asked, curious.

"Because if your magic had been unstable, you and Miriel would have become extra crispy." Khrow cut in with an evil smirk.

I gulped nervously at the thought of what could have happened.

A smaller squadron came after us.

"_Watch out for these, they aren't absolute drek like the last groups. The others were weaker than most conscripts, these are actual functioning units."_

"Be careful, I'm getting a bad vibe from these guys!" thanks for restating that for me, Robin.

A fighter charged towards Brutus. He tried to block a strike from the risen's axe, but was sent sprawling to the ground.

I sent a flux into the fighter's back and watched it dissolve. I charged toward a knight and stabbed into its ribcage. I leapt back away from the zombie. Damn! its still alive!

...Aaaand it's pissed. The knight brought its spear down at me, and I blocked. I was sent rolling across the ground, getting a nice taste of the soil as I went. I coughed and spit, trying to get the dirt out of my mouth.

I saw Brutus get up and charged the knight.

He twirled his spear and yelled " I hope you've finished your prayers!" He smashed through the knight's armor, leaving nothing left. He gave me his hand and helped me get back up. "Don't worry about that, man. It happens to everyone once in a while."

" I have a feeling that before I retire I'll have developed a taste for grass."

I saw a volley of arrows flying toward us. I lifted my hand, using wind to send them over our heads.

I heard a loud, shrill cry from behind us. I looked back and saw Virion with an arrow in his shoulder and in both of his knees. I guess I messed that spell up.

"I've got it!" Lissa yelled, running to heal Virion's wounds.

I looked at Brutus " We will never speak of this."

He nodded and we looked ahead to see Crimson charging at our group.

"Prepare yourselves, assbutts!" She bellowed as she swung wildly at us. I leapt to the right and Brutus went to the left. Luckily, it seemed that neither of us were harmed.

I felt a blood run down my chest. Brutus had some bone peeking from his arm, as well. I guess we were hurt, after all.

Chrom and Khrow charged her, leaping to strike from both sides. She dodged both blows as if the two were moving in slow motion. She raised her blades high, ready to finish them off.

Her strike was blocked by Frederick's lance. The two came apart, locking into a duel between equal forces. Frederick's blows, although powerful enough to crush boulders, were too slow to land a hit on crimson. Crimson's slashes were extremely swift, but they were too weak to pierce Frederick's thick armor. We noticed that Crimson was focusing solely on Frederick. Robin, Miriel, and I launched our rounds of magic. Crimson ducked out of the way, and the magic rounds slammed into Frederick.

The great Knight fell to the ground with a loud metallic clank. I saw his chest moving slightly. He was still alive, but not by much.

"Nice try, dumbasses." Crimson cackled madly.

Chrom and Khrow charged again. Crimson deflected Khrow's strike withe her dagger. With her sword, she disarmed Chrom and left a massive gash in his side.

"Too bad, it seems that the knight was the only threat out of your group." Crimson mocked holding her blade high.

I activated my devil speed and threw a missile of dark energy at Crimson. She tried to dodge, but the speed boost of my trump allowed the attack to graze her leg. She charged at me for a counter attack. I backpedaled and prepared another spell, which hit her knee. Stahl and Sully charged out from behind me, and Crimson's wounds prevented her from avoiding them.

"Bull and Panther" The two yelled in slammed Crimson with the butt of her lance while Stahl bashed her with the flat of his blade. Crimson fell to the ground.

"Aww, that hurts like a bitch! oh well, thanks for that. Who knows what could have happened if I kept on like that." Crimson said, coming to her senses.

Sully raised her lance over crimson. " You're fin- wait what?" she asked, perplexed.

"Oh yeah, most of you guys weren't here when we recruited her." Brutus began. "She does this sometimes in battle when the bloodlust gets to her. She was like this when we met her, although it wasn't as difficult to take her down since we were in a tight space. Kinda feel sorry for the guards though." he explained as if it were a common occurrence.

"And Frederick thought my sister and I were dangerous." Khrow facepalmed.

"Well, we better start treating everyone's wounds. This is going to be a major delay in our trip." Robin sighed.

"Oh, right." Crimson said as she reached into her pouch and pulled out a case full of elixirs. "I was saving these for a time when I needed them or a time when I could use some cash, but I won't last very long out here with a bunch of dead friends. We should be able to get out of here quickly if you all take one."

Soon the entire case was empty, and we were on our way out.

XXXXXXXXX

We were standing in the clearing where Sumia found her pegasus. However the pegasus was not the thing that caught my attention. There was someone sleeping by the tree next to it, and another person ominously slumped in a snowdrift nearby.

Sumia and Lissa took notice, Sumia heading to the tree and Lissa to the snowdrift.

"Hey, you should probably get up before you catch a cold" Sumia said sweetly.

The person, slowly woke up. I got a closer look at the person, now seeing that she was a tallish, thin girl. She had bright red hair and deep blue eyes. Her ears were pointed in what may or may not be a sign of her being another race. She was wearing a white dress, similar to the bride class. However, her dress only went to about knee length and there was light chainmail underneath. She also had rather large- er, her eyes are up there, Kira!

"_I've never heard of a manakete who was that size before!" Shade laughed at my flustered state._

So I was right about her not being human. Hey Shade what class is she?

"_Dragon Maiden- sometimes the dragon is keeping the princess locked up, and sometimes the princess IS the dragon. This class can use both a sword and a dragonstone, and their abilities allow both forms to be equally dangerous."_

"My name is **Dolce Babarego, **it's a pleasure to meet you." The girl said in a sweet voice, although you could still hear the exhaustion in her voice.

"My name is Kira, and it is my pleasure." I said, trying to sound gentlemanly but nervousness betraying my voice.

"It seems that you guys have a nice group built up here. Could I maybe join you? I was on the run from a group of slavers when I came here, so I don't really have anywhere else to go." Dolce looked downcast.

"Well you'll have to talk to Chrom about that..." I began, and Dolce looked ready to cry. "But don't worry! He's very nice, and will take in just about anyone! I'm sure he'll have no problem letting you be part of the team." I finished, cheering her up. As she walked over to him, I let out a sigh. Why do I have to have a weakness for cuteness?

I turned and saw Lissa healing the man in the snowdrift. He jumped up looked at Lissa, then bowed.

"Thank you for your aid, milady. My name is **Derek, **it's a pleasure to meet you." Derek had light brown hair that was parted to the right. His eyes were a mixture of blue and green with a hint of yellow.

"_This guy's a revolutionist_ \- _a man who uses swords and knives to over power foes with his speed. You know how your thumbs develop really fast reactions when you play video games. This guy is kinda like that, but with his whole body."_

Derek continued to flirt with Lissa until he noticed Dolce.

"Hey! you're the one who kicked me in the face!" He yelled loudly.

"I thought you were another of those slavers! You scared the hell out of me!" Dolce yelled right back.

The two continued to bicker loudly, and I sweatdropped.

"_At least we have our five man band now, right?"_

That we do, Shade, that we do.

XXXXXXXXX

_Meanwhile, in Plegia_

In the castle court room, a meeting was held between Gangrel and Aversa.

"So where's this new general you were telling me about?" the king asked his advisor inquisitively.

"He'll be here in just a moment, he tends to be purposefully late." as Aversa responded, the throne room's doors opened loudly.

A man walked in through the doors as if it were HIS castle. He had brown hair in a buzz cut and rabbit ears tied into a ponytail. His eyes were a bloodshot red and his skin was pale and wraithlike. He wore an all black ensemble, complete with combat boots and handmade sunglasses tucked in the pocket of his sleeveless leather jacket. He had scars running down his face down to his chin, and another massive one along his chest. His hands were covered in fur and he had light tufts on his chest.

"You! What is a monster like you doing here?" The king asked, unnerved.

"You call me a monster? I'm defending the country while you are bringing it to ruin!"the man exclaimed angrily, before stepping forward. "You made my life Hell for five years, Gangrel, but I'll work with you in order to save Plegia."

" How is a little rabbit like you going to do anything for the sake of Plegia?"

"Well, there is the fact that I'm as strong as you, possibly stronger. There is also the fact that I can do this" the taguel snapped his fingers, and a squadron of risen appeared.

" Those wimpy corpses? They're weaker than conscripts!" Gangrel cackled loudly.

" So you've seen the drek. The base form of these is extremely weak, but these are as powerful as a squad of your elite soldiers." To emphasize this, one of the archers launched an arrow at the king, grazing his ear. " Do you still have any questions?" the taguel asked the king.

"Yes, how the hell am I supposed to trust you?" The king asked incredulously, pointing at the man's ears and the risen behind him.

"Simple, you don't. My duty is to Plegia, not you. If the country is attacked, I will abandon you for the sake of everyone else. If you become a risk to the country, I will finish you off my self." Connor said aggressively, as if he was challenging Gangrel to screw up.

"You insolent mutt! A beast like you has no right to speak that way to the king!" Gangrel was pissed.

The man pressed his blade against Gangrel's throat, drawing blood. "My name is **Connor Price**, now ingrain it into that tiny brain of yours!" Connor screamed angrily.

"You will begin working with us tomorrow." Gangrel squeaked out.

Connor left the room, and Aversa followed him out.

"That wasn't like you." Aversa said to Connor as they walked out.

" I guess that guy just brings it out of me. Why did you decide it was a good idea to choose me for the job any way?" Connor asked nonchalantly.

"Lord Validar felt that you would keep a close eye on him, which is true. However, if you were not a cardinal in the grimleal sect, you would not have gotten away with what you said."

"Relax a little Aversa, you'll shave years off if you keep stressing so much."

XXXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

"Show your worth, brigands!" general Raimi yelled at us. Sumia had just done her fancy rescue scene with Chrom.

Khrow and Robin sorted us into formations and we prepared for battle.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

** Well, this chapter turned out fairly well with the exception of Crimson's point of view. I was planning on doing something like this with every new character, but if the others end up like that I'll start shifting them to 3rd person limited or taking them out completely. We also now have the first antagonist introduction, although he will be one of the last to actually appear in front of the Shepherds. Also, there are going to be three types of risen: Weak but numerous zombie movie risen, normal soldier risen, and uber risen like the dead lords.**

**Thanks for reading, please review! **


	6. Crossing the border

**Hey guys, bet you didn't expect to see me again so soon!**

**On to the reviews!**

**Cormag: I didn't like it as I was writing it for some reason, but when I looked back at it I was glad it turned out the way it did. Also, thanks! I still have a ways to go but I am getting there!**

**Also since I have neglected to put this in the notes sooner, Crimson was created by Cormag Ravenstaff, Derek was made by The emblem of fire, and Dolce and Conner are both the creations of pyrojack25**

**Disclaimer: I will never own Fire Emblem, I only own certain OCs**

**XXXXXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

We were in our formations, charging either side. I was in a group with Chrom, Khrow, Frederick, Dolce, Vaike, Virion, and Miriel. Khrow and Robin had decided that our group needed more manpower since Robin's group had our only healer. They had been about to separate Stahl and Sully for good measure before I pointed out Kellam, whose existence everyone had forgotten until that point. Brutus and I were also originally meant to be in each other's group until Khrow switched our positions for 'tactical reasons''. There were two of these reasons, which he whispered in my ear.

"One: Brutus and Derek will end up competing, since they both seem to have a thing for Lissa. Two: I don't trust you to be around Robin without my supervision."

So Khrow is an overprotective older brother, never expected that from him.

"_You can't really blame him, you would be the same in his position. The guy has no memories and Robin is his only known relative. He'll probably calm down as he starts to befriend the others."_

You're probably right about that, Shade. We should probably focus more on what's going on right now.

With that thought, the charge began. There were a few more soldiers than in the game, but not by too much. I was confronted by a myrmidon. We locked blades for a moment before coming apart.

The myrmidon dashed at me, and I quickly activated devil speed. I was met with a swift string of strikes. I managed to parry or dodge the first four, but the last one grazed my chest. It wasn't a major wound, but it's the small ones sting the most. Kind of like how a paper cut hurts like a bitch but a gash running down your hand only throbs a little. I quickly jabbed my blade into the myrmidon's ribcage, taking him out quickly and easily.

How the hell did a regular myrmidon already know Astra?

" _Ferox units are sort of a mix between the normal and lunatic difficulties. They only have the stats from normal mode but they have some insane skills."_

Great, just great. Three fighters surrounded me, and the only one remotely close was Dolce. I leapt into the air as they attempted to spam luna.

As I landed, I prepared my flux tome to pick them off. However, it seemed this task was already covered.

I watched as Dolce charged at one of the fighters and lashed out with her sword, slicing through him easily. Another threw his hand axe at her from behind. Her ear twitched, and she turned and dodged. The axe managed a glancing blow on her shoulder, but other than that it really didn't do Jack. She charged at the instigator and rammed her blade into the man's gut.

An unknown force launched a javelin at the third burying it in the fighter's neck. How did- oh right, Kellam.

How did Dolce manage to get here so fast? Also how did she take those guys out so easily?

"_Why it's elementary my dear Watson, it's an ability of hers. Dragonheart- it allows her to use half of her dragonstone boost even while she retains human form. That stat boost actually makes her stronger than you for the moment. You could easily outspeed her but she probably wouldn't even need to block your attacks."_

That is amazing actually, it's like we have a tank that can fly.

"_We pretty much do."_

"Hey, why is Virion up so close to the front line? Doesn't that break just about every rule of strategy?" Dolce asked, making a very good point.

"Well," Dammit Kellam don't scare me like that! "When you are being backed by a group of elite soldiers like them- and Vaike, of course- you don't really need to worry about having up close attacks so you can just let loose with the bolts of death."

" Hey guys we have the door key!" Chrom yelled excitedly.

"That means you need to get your lazy asses over here!" Khrow finished mockingly.

I looked up at the roof of the castle. Now that we have our side cleared this shouldn't be too dangerous.

"I have an idea." I said to Dolce.

"Are we gonna fly?" Dolce asked, following my eyes.

"Yep." I grinned.

Dolce's necklace began to glow and her form shifted. She was now a black, scaly dragon with glowing green eyes. Her wings were leathery, with a pink tint on the edges.

"What the hell? Did that chick just turn into a freaking DRAGON?" Khrow asked incredulously. Oh yeah, I'm the only one who knew she was a manakete.

"Wow, a manakete! I've heard countless stories about them, but they are nothing compared to the real deal. I never thought that I would get the chance to see one in my lifetime." Chrom was absolutely awestruck, which really was only to be expected, considering the circumstances.

I jumped on her back as she took flight. "Let's climb! Excelsior!"

"_You're having a lot of fun with this aren't you"_

You know it.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Derek pov_

As we reached the horde of enemies, I used my trump to prep myself up for battle. It was an ability called repent, a skill that boosted my vitality by a quarter of its maximum, but saps my strength for a couple of minutes. It wasn't a major difference, but the backlash wasn't as bad as other trumps tended to be, and the benefit lasted for the full battle.

"_Too bad it can almost pass as a normal skill."_

Shut up Kirito. That's one of its advantages, it seems like a regular old skill so only someone with a tacticians eyes would notice the difference.

"_I still wish it was something awesome like fire breathing or laser beams."_

Yeah, great idea. I'd probably get lynched because everyone thought I was a demon or something.

"_So the hipster wants to be mainstream now?"_

Just shut up Kirito.

The first enemies were coming at us, and the strength decline had already faded.

An archer launched an arrow, which I dodged . I quickly grabbed a throwing knife from my belt and tossed blade buried itself into the archer's shoulder. He certainly wasn't dead, but he would have some trouble shooting for a while.

In a blur of red and black, Crimson stole the archer's wallet then slit his throat.

"Hey, you better buy me some dinner with that later." I said jokingly.

"I won't treat you to anything, but I might give you a cut if you give me some sugar." Crimson said teasingly. I felt heat rising in my cheeks at that statement. "I meant candy, dumbass!" Crimson joked, rapping me lightly on the head. "But seriously though, I will pay you a ton for some candy. Candy is my life force."

"Duly noted" I said as I charged a knight in front of me. I leapt onto his shoulders, sinking my dagger in his shoulder for grip, then kicked off towards a mercenary in front of me. I rolled then kicked onto my feet, parrying his strike using my dagger before bringing my blade around to finish him off. I always had pretty good reflexes, but now I had some freaking Assassin's Creed reflexes.

I heard a loud clank and turned to see Brutus with his spear piercing through the knight's skull. "It looks like we've got one each, we should probably hurry before Robin fries the rest of them." He said with a competitive grin.

I took a handful of knives and threw them at a fighter. They may have some tough defenses but not nearly enough to handle three knives in the back.

Brutus charged at an archer, deflecting an arrow as he went. He brutally smashed the bow, before knocking him over and bringing his spear down on him.

I dashed towards a mage, narrowly dodging a fireball that singed my thing this world gives clothes a healing factor, otherwise I would need to buy a new one. I shoved my blade into the mage's tome, and brought my dagger down onto the mage.

We both came to the same barbarian. Brutus struck with his spear, only to be blocked. The barbarian proceeded to attack me. He charged at me with a luna that I was unable to avoid. I had an axe stuck pretty deep in there. I brought my dagger up and rammed it in the barbarian's throat as Brutus came up and slammed his spear into the man's back.

If it wasn't for my trump, I would be dead right now. What now, Kirito?

"_Save your gloating for later, Derek."_

Lissa came up and healed us. "Ugh, what am I going to do with you two? You better not make this a habit."

I looked at Brutus. "I guess we should call that three and a half each."

Brutus held his fist out. "Sounds good to me."

We fistbumped eachother before getting up.

"Hurry up, you couple of pansies! We already have the key!"Sully exclaimed in her oh so tactful manner.

We walked to the door, and the last thing we saw before we entered was a dragon flying towards the roof. Wait, what?

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Dolce pov_

As I flew up to the top of the fort, I reveled in the feeling of flight. The wind flowed through my wings, relieving the shoulder cramps that manakete get when they don't fly enough. In the two months I had been in Ylisse, my cramps had grown to be a major problem. I couldn't use this form very often, or I would have captured the attention of slavers much sooner than they had. I shuddered at the thought of what would have happened to me if I were caught.

As I reached the roof, I let out a spray of emerald green fire.

"_Yes, that's right! Burn them! Burn them all! Mwahahaha!"_

Why do you have to be so violent, Maleficent? I'm only doing these things because they are necessary for our survival. These people probably have families worrying about them back home! Battle is really just a quick way to waste a lot of lives. In a more peaceful world, these men could have been great farmers or cobblers or, well, anything really.

"_Those sound like extremely boring choices of occupation if you ask me."_

Well I wasn't asking you, was I little miss bloodlust?

As I landed on the roof, a mercenary tried to charge and attack me. I casually batted him away, sending him on a drop to his death.

I felt Kira leap off of my back, and watched as he quickly finished off two slightly crispy shadows before vanishing into the shadows.

XXXXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

I rushed forward, charging dark energy through my body to shadow travel to Raimi. I felt myself begin to slip through the shadows and-

I missed by a long shot. I went over the edge of the roof, barely managing to latch on to the side as I fell. While I might be able to survive the fall from here, it was very doubtful. The staircase up was nearby, just too far for me to fling myself there.

"_Maybe if we channel some magic, we can make the jump."_

So we're going to fix a problem caused by magic by using even more magic?

"_Why not, it seems like a fine plan to me."_

Ugh great. Oh well, there aren't really any other options, are there?

XXXXXXXX

_Dolce pov_

I shifted into my human form and charged at a soldier, taking him down. While my human form isn't as strong as my dragon form, it's a lot easier to avoid attacks when you aren't the size of a barn.

I struck a few more, noticing that their numbers were thinning out. I guess it's to be expected, they probably can't handle having strong fighting forces attacking from three points. Granted, I wasn't a major fighting force by myself, but that doesn't matter when the opposition is slightly charred.

I finished off the last of my enemies and heard a voice a few meters away.

"Fine, I believe you. I surrender." Raimi's voice rang out calmly.

I turned around and saw that Chrom and Khrow had their blades pointing at the knight. Brutus and Frederick held their lances high over her head. Derek had a knife at her back while Crimson held one against the knight's throat. Miriel and Robin had their magic prepared to blast her with if needed. Despite all of this, Raimi was calm.

Wait, where's Kira? My question was answered as the man limped onto the roof, cuts covering his body. They looked kind of like.

"You look kind of _winded_, Kira." Crimson chuckled.

Lissa rushed hurriedly to heal him.

"Don't worry about me, it's merely a flesh wound!" Kira said.

"Yeah right! I've seen arcfire wounds that looked better than this, now lay down so I can heal you!" Lissa said as she forced Kira to lay down.

"I'll help you out!" I said as I walked over to them and pulled out a vulnerary.

"Okay Dolce, apply some here, here, and her." The princess said, pointing out the points where the wounds were the deepest.

"Hey Crimson, do you have anything I can borrow? I have a least a little first aid sill and would like to help." Robin asked.

"Sure zaps" Crimson tossed a concoction "I don't have any more elixirs, so if that isn't enough you'll just have to rub a little salt in there."

"Wait, zaps?" Robin seemed curious.

"It's a nickname, she gives them to people fairly often."

"Yep, Chrom here's moneybags and Lissa's goldilocks."Crimson said heartily.

"that's good to know I guess." Robin looked confused. "I guess I should get to business."

Lissa pointed out places for Robin to apply the concoction and she joined us.

"You should feel lucky Kira." General Raimi said " You have three lovely ladies caring for you." I saw Kira's face grow slightly red at this.

" Oh the things I would give to be in your place right now!" Virion exclaimed. Kira's face reddened a little more.

" I agree, you should feel very lucky," Chrom chuckled " Just remember that my sister is off-limit. Kira glowed even redder, Lissa just began to giggle.

" You better not try anything with my sister!" Khrow exclaimed. Kira's face grew to a shade of red I didn't think existed while Robins own cheeks took a pink tint.

By the time we had finished treating Kira, his scarlet face put even the brightest of tomatoes to shame.

Lissa couldn't hold in her laughter "Oh gods! his face is so red, this is amazing!" Lissa cackled and banged her fist against the floor in a fit of laughter, finding an almost unhealthy amount of humor in Kira's expression.

"Ahem," Frederick cleared his throat loudly, silencing Lissa. "I believe we should head to Ferox now, since Kira has recovered."

We all stood up to follow him, making a trek to the Khan's home.

XXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

We went through the conversation about the arena battle, although there seemed to be a change from the content of the game.

" You can send your men to help, and I'll give you our support should we win." Khan Flavia began. "However, we already have a champion whose orders you'll have to follow. The team will also be made from his choice of your men."

As if he had sensed what was happening, a cloaked man opened the door to the throne room and strode calmly in.

The man wore the hood of his black cloak so that it shielded his face from outside view. The cloak had the symbol of naga marked on it in a dark navy blue.

The man took off his hood. He had black hair that reached around his chin. His bangs, cut just above his brown eyes, had a long silver streak running down them. A long, thin scar lined his cheek.

"My name is **Soren**, I am the champion of this side of Ferox as well as the man who will decide which of you will join in the tournament." Soren looked at our group with intense eyes before making his decision. He pointed at Chrom, Dolce, Brutus, Derek, and finally, me.

"Personally, I would have liked to bring the redheaded rogue with us as well." Soren said calmly "But rogues are at their best in times when they are either outnumbered or are outnumbering the opponent. Their talents aren't nearly as useful in one one one fights, like our tournament. Too bad we can only have six people."

What's with this guy anyway?

"_I can't tell you much, even I'm at a loss here, he isn't one of us and yet he has a class that no longer exists in this world. The only thing I CAN tell you is that he's a magus- The sister class to the tactician. An extremely wise strategist who has fought for years under one banner. Truly the greatest advisor any ruler can have. This class was once commonly seated next to every ruler in this world, but the practice disappeared a few centuries before Marth's time."_

"Now there is quite a while until the tournament so you should spend your free time however you wish." Soren stated nonchalantly.

"Hey! We can check this place out! Let's go see what Ferox has to offer!" Derek said excitedly.

"That sounds like a good idea! I'll join you guys.

XXXXXXXXX

Chrom had opted out of our excursion while Crimson joined in to 'fill the gap'. I think she just didn't want to be the only of us who wasn't going. That, or she figured she could raid some of the stalls. It was probably the latter, actually.

We were walking along the alleys when we reached an intersection. There were two paths we could take from here.

Suddenly, a figure jumped from one of the roofs. The man was wearing a strange green cloak with several rune-like markings. He held a strange looking staff that had a blade sticking from the side. The man had blue hair, similar to Chrom's. His left eye was silver and his right was a lustrous gold.

"My name is **Aquila, **nice to meet you. I've been waiting to see your group for a rather long time now."

"_Kira, take your group and run right now. You guys don't stand a chance against him, even with 6-on-1 odds. You might have been able to take him on if it wasn't for the fact that he has the perfect trump. It's called supreme guard- It exponentially increases his defence, resistance, and vitality. On top of that, he doesn't have to give jack shit in return. His class is a shaman- a versatile mage who uses anima magic as well as ancient druid magic. Fire, lightning, and wind? Check. Shapeshifting, illusions, and familiars? Also check. This guy has a million tricks up his sleeve."_

"Oh, and in case you guys were thinking of leaving" Aquila snapped his fingers, causing risen to fill the exits.

"I'll take this path! you guys figure out how to distribute the rest!"

Soren said as he charged to face one of the hordes alone.

A blur of blue came by, followed by a multitude of others. Suddenly, Lucina was standing alongside every 2nd gen shepherd showed in-game, with the exception of Morgan of course. The each wore a mask similar to those of Lucina and also seemed to be two that I did not recognize.

"It looks like you guys are in need of some help." Lucina stated the obvious.

"It seems that recent events have taken an unexpected turn." Aquila said with a hint of excitement in his voice. "Let's see how you fare against my Grima granted power!"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**And now we finally get to see one of Grima's servants in action. This guy's concept was one of the first things I thought up with this story. His trump is actually probably the only thing that stayed the same throughout planning, while basically everything else about him has been altered dramatically. **

**And then we have Soren, who was originally from a different fic idea altogether. Somewhere through the planning process this guy wormed his way into my mind again and actually gave me some ideas for other future craziness.**

**See you guys next time! Please leave a review, they're always fun to read!**


	7. First Contact

**Review answer corner:**

**Cormag:Yeah, Soren's definitely one of the more interesting characters of this cast, although there is one thing you may not lie about him later on. *Laughs evilly***

**Yes! Kira's the black knight "I'm invincible!"**

**Note: The future children won't all completely follow their in-game characters, and changes may vary based on circumstances.**

**Said circumstances mainly consist of:**

**A)The father's character being incorporated slightly. If a child's father was Henry he/she would act much differently from if the father was Gaius.**

**B) Interactions with a character that wasn't in the game's storyline. Your friends can greatly affect your personality over time.**

**C) I may simply be awful at writing said character.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem, I only own certain OCs**

**XXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

"Okay, where should we begin?" Lucina asked herself thoughtfully. It seemed that Aquila was going to let us sit and think things through, every path was calm with the exception of the one Soren was in.

"Well, our friend Soren is in there-" As I said this, a loud roaring sound rang out and a small number of blue sparks could be seen.

"Yep, that's Soren alright." Lucina giggled lightly. "I doubt we need to worry about him. He is possibly the strongest of our number and there aren't nearly as many risen down that path. Let's see, **Heathcliff, Mikasa, **you two stay here to take on Aquila."

Wow, anime references, they _definitely _don't sound like fake names to me. Heathcliff, who was a woman despite the name, wore red plate armor fitting her fake name, if only she had a giant shield to go with it. She had a sword sheathed at her side, as well as a spear and an axe crossed on her back. Her mask was placed firmly in lock with her helmet, making it look like a visor.

Mikasa, who DID retain her namesake's gender, wore a worn black cloak with leather armor attached to it. She had a sheathed sword and a pouch full of tomes, among which were an elthunder and a nosferatu. Her mask completely covered her face, but one could still see her long black hair.

Shade, give me some stats on these guys.

"_I'm sorry Kira, something is keeping me from detecting their classification, maybe their masks are enchanted or something."_

"Okay, I'll take, Gerome, Inigo, Owain, and Brady and head down this path. Laurent, you take the others and head the other way."Lucina said, finally completing her plan.

It seemed that she wasn't going to bother using fake names for them, she must have figured some of us already knew who they were.

"And why is HE the leader? I'm the strongest one in my group!" Severa exclaimed indignantly.

"Severa, strength isn't everything." Lucina began to grow exasperated. "You have the sharpest blade of anyone in your group, yes, but Laurent has the sharpest mind. You are admittedly good at thinking up plans when given time, but Laurent is capable of using tactics under pressure. He also gets more time to think since he mainly fights at a range." Lucina stated, making a sound argument. Who the hell taught her tactics? Something seems off about her, but I'm not quite sure what it is.

I just now noticed that Laurent is wearing a dark mage outfit. That is either great or terrible, not quite sure which.

"Okay, Shepherds! Let's move out!" Lucina shouted and the battle began.

XXXXXXX

_Lucina pov_

As I fought the risen, there were several thoughts running through my mind.

I wish that Soren was still travelling with us., I thought as we charged in. He would have been able to make a better plan in a shorter time, and not even Severa would have questioned it. I can lead extremely well, but I can't figure out how to save our friends should something happen. Not only was he my tactician, but my best friend. When I lost my father, he was the one to console me. I had lost my father, but my mother was still there. Both of Soren's parents, on the other hand, were dead. I should have been the one comforting him, and yet he was the one holding me up. Through every trial we faced, he was always right there with me. Now that he had left, it felt like I was missing a part of myself.

"I came in," Gerome began "Like a wrecking ball!" he bellowed out as he slammed his hammer into a knight with a loud clank. Even Gerome couldn't seem to stay completely stoic. All the guys occasionally let out one liners like this.

It had all started when Kira showed us the stereo and television, back when we were still barely able to reach his knees. It was an invention that he and two other shepherds had put together, bringing elements from another world entirely. They never showed it to the other shepherds, as the others knew nothing of their world. They had, however, decided it was okay for us to know about the other world.

"My name is Inigo Montoya," Inigo began his own catchphrase as he charged at a cavalier"and you killed my father, prepare to die!". Well, if he says that to every risen he sees, he will eventually get it right.

"For Sparta!" Owain yelled as he sliced through a fighter. I swear these guys are crazy, but they are my friends.

"Why don't you join us, dear cousin? We never get to hear your battle cries!" Owain yelled, looking at me expectantly.

"Fine" I sighed. I rushed towards a rather tall mercenary. "Seid ihr das Essen? Nein, wir sind der Jaeger!" I yelled as I leaped up, severing the risen's head from its body.

I looked around, seeing that there were no remaining enemies.

"You guys could have saved some ass for me to kick." Brady said with mock seriousness.

"There were barely enough of them to even make a good show!" Inigo stated arrogantly, although with a hint of truth. The battle wasn't exactly that hard.

"There weren't nearly enough foes to satisfy my swordhand!" Owain exclaimed angrily.

"It was a fair fight, I suppose." Gerome said, in his usual blank persona.

"I guess we should head back." I told them as I turned away.

XXXXXXXXX

_Kira pov._

Aquila began his fight using only his staff. one man against seven, it seemed that we had good odds but I wasn't going to underestimate him.

The people who knew magic, which was limited to me and Mikasa, stayed back and launched our rounds.

Brutus and Heathcliff were at the fore of the battle, since they could take a hit better than the the rest of us.

Dolce, Crimson, and Derek were at mid-range in order to slide in, strike, and get out quickly.

Brutus charged at Aquila, who blocked the strike with the spear end of his staff. Derek charged for a follow up, but Aquila pushed away and swung the gem end of his staff, raising a pillar of earth. Derek barely managed to dodge, pulling a dagger and throwing it at Aquila. The dagger hit Aquila's neck and bounced off, barely drawing blood.

Mikasa launched a blast of dark energy at him that hit him but didn't really do any damage other than a tiny scratch.

This cycle continued for a few minutes before Aquila broke away from the group.

Luckily it seemed that no one had any major wound, although we each had a few grazes or burns here and there.

Aquila looked as if he had been scratched a few times by a cat rather than attacked continuously with an array of weapons.

"You guys are stronger than I expected, it looks like I'll get to have a little fun here!"

There was a bright flash of light, and when it faded we were faced with a giant land octopus where Aquila used to be.

"It's time for round 2!" Squealed the shrill voice of Squid-quila.

XXXXXXX

_Soren pov_

I ran towards the risen, shadow traveling behind the first row to get the jump on them. It was a trick I sucked at when I first tried it, but Kira had urged me to practice it until I had mastered the skill. Over the years the technique had become my favorite way to start a battle.

I held out my blade, and allowed a fire to begin roaring inside of me. My entire body, as well as my blade lit in a bright blue flame. Sword magic was a talent I had picked up early on in my training. It wasn't exceedingly rare for a dark knight or tactician to develop such a skill, but with Kira's training I became the first man in history to learn to use the technique with multiple branches of magic. I could use it with any form of magic, other than light magic, even attempting to use light magic would probably incinerate my insides. The blue tint to my flames was an annoying detail that no one could find a reason behind.

One of the risen stared at me and let out a single moan. "Master."

I immediately launched a blast of blue fire at the risen, leaving it in a heap of ash. I then proceeded to do the same to those that still remained. In a matter of minutes, all the risen were gone, replaced by mountains of ash.

The risen must have sniffed out the fact that I was a fell blood. There was also the possibility that it sensed traces of my father's power coming off of my blade.

My sword was a simple silver blade that once belonged to my father, Khrow. After Grima took over him and my aunt and killed Chrom, he plunged the blade into the corpse. The man told the shepherds to take the blade with them as a reminder of who it was they were fighting, before enchanting it with a tiny portion of his power. Grima then proceeded to kill my mother and uncle before leaving to take Morgan and Mark, my sister and my cousin, to train as his own.

When I found out about the event, I vowed to defeat Grima myself. As soon as I was able to hold a sword, I asked Kira to train me. He taught me everything that I know now, tempering my abilities as if I were a blade in the forge. When I had come of age he gave me this blade. He had it forge to be unbreakable, knowing that one day I would wield it into battle. He had dubbed the blade Clarent, the coward's blade. He told me of a similar story from his world of a man who had betrayed his king with the blade that was used in knighting ceremonies.

A few months later, I went into my first battle along with the other five shepherds who had come of age that year. Kira had told us that everything would be fine, and that things were looking up with all the prodigies who had come through in the year. That was the day that Kira fell in battle. Each of the shepherds of that year keep a fragment of yamikiri with them in honor of the care he had given us.

I never told any of my friends that I was the child of Grima. They all knew that my father was Khrow, but no one had the heart to let them know that he was a part of Grima. I knew that none of the others would judge me for it, but I was so afraid to tell them the truth. I even wore a glove constantly so that no one would see Grima's mark branded on my hand.

When we came to the time I split up from Lucina, telling her that my task was something I had to do alone. I felt like I didn't deserve the company of the shepherds, every one of them lost everything because of my father. All I could possibly do is end up passing on my terrible bloodline. I left the person I cared for the most in tears because I couldn't face the truth. I truly was a horrible person, wasn't I.

I should just stop wallowing in self loathing and go help the others already.

XXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

Squid-Quila's tentacles took up most of the alley way. Rather than using a decisive strategy to find openings, we were now opting to just go all out. Mikasa had pulled out a dagger for optional defence and lit her sword with the aura of dark magic, who knew sword magic was a thing?

Heathcliff was now swapping between each of her weapons, moving in a vicious dance of blades.

Brutus was above the creature, launching volley after volley of javelins.

Crimson was reaching in her pouch, throwing every dagger she could find.

Derek was in a sword-and-dagger stance, while Dolce was using her sword in an attempt to bat Aquila's appendages away.

"I guess I'll have to go all out." Dolce said as her entire body was enveloped in a bright green glow.

The glow faded, and she stood there, now covered in full black scales. Her eyes were now a bright green and small wings protruded from her back.

"_It seems her trump is draconic resonance- It allows her to utilize double the full boost of her dragonstone, but it seems she'll suffer a stat decrease afterwards."_

Aquila quickly struck at Dolce, but she lifted her blade and cut the tentacle in half. She charged in, bursting through Aquila's defences. She struck wildly, managing to leave three gashes before reverting to her original form.

With a puff of smoke, Aquila reverted to his original robes were now tattered and he had some minor wounds, but other than that he was perfectly fine.

"My," Aquila began as his face took on a rather deranged look "isn't your little group just full of surprises? I guess I'll get to flex my muscles a bit." Aquila let out a chuckle that turned into an a cackle as the wind next to him shifted into the shape of a human.

"Say hello to my familiar, I believe it's about time for you to become acquainted."

XXXXXXXXX

_Laurent pov_

"Kjelle, Nah, you go up front and tank. Cynthia, Severa, and Yarne, cover melee dps."I

began my plan.

"But I could get killed in the melee, my species would go extinct!" Yarne interjected.

"You'll die anyway if you just sit there and let the damn risen eat you." I stated calmly.

"And before there are more complaints, Noire and I will cover you all from a range. Now charge!"

The battle began very smoothly. Kjelle blocked an axe strike from one of the risen. Severa leapt over her and pierced the head of the risen before charging to take down another. While she did not necessarily have the natural ability of her mother, she certainly had the determination to surpass her some day.

Nah launched orbs of flame at the risen, leaving them singed around the edges.

Cynthia threw javelins, raining hell down from the skies while Yarne decimated the risen from the land.

Noire launched arrows at a breakneck speed, taking them out with ease.

I launched rounds of dark and fire magic, obliterating many and incinerating others. Sadly, the horde was reduced to nothing in a short amount of time.

"Let's go help the others." I said in a commanding tone.

"Who the hell put you in charge?" Severa asked angrily.

"Lucina did, of course. Are you by chance suffering from amnesia?" I retorted.

"Fine, let's go." She replied, and we headed towards the center.

XXXXXXXXX

Kira pov

We were being absolutely demolished. Aquila's familiar moved with such a speed that it took six of us to even keep up, let alone corner it. Even worse, the damn thing seemed to share in Aquila's juggernaut defences. We each had a collection of gashes along our entire bodies.

"It seems that this is all you have to offer, and here I was hoping for you to push me to my limits." Aquila sighed before snapping his fingers. His familiar rushed forward before unleashing an immense blast of wind that brought us to the ground.

Aquila stepped forward "Now which one of you should I kill first? Master Grima already said the one with the rapier was off limits, but anyone else is still game. Oh, I know!" He flicked his wrist, sending his familiar to Dolce. "You were a pretty big nuisance, and I doubt master would care about your passing."

Suddenly, a gleaming arrow embedded itself in the familiar, causing it to disperse. Aquila let out a scream, holding a palm to his head as blood gushed from his nose and ears.

_"Holy arrows? But they can only be made through alchemy, which has been gone for centuries! Who the hell made that thing? Anyway, that arrow was built to disable shaman magic and debilitate the shaman using it. He can still use his staff and anima magic, but those aren't his specialties and he isn't in good fighting condition."_

Two figures leapt down from a rooftop near the battlefield.

One, obviously the shooter from earlier, wore a mottled green cloak. He had the hood pulled over his head and the cowl covering his face. In addition to this, he had lenses blocking any view of his eyes. The only feature one could see was a faint hint of blue hair. He was holding a steel bow and had a killing edge sheathed at his sides.

The other seemed to be a taguel in swordmaster armor. Fur peeked out from the arm guards and his claws visibly wrapped around his blades. Rather than the multitude of blades that other swordmasters tended to have, he settled for what seemed to be a daito and shoto, signifying that he used the typical Chon'sin style of fighting. He wore a leather mask covering his face as well as a blindfold. His ear could still be seen, tied back to avoid having any issues during combat.

Any details, Shade?

_"Nope, same as the two from earlier. It seems masks are my one true weakness."_

"It seems that I have a few more victims to have fun with. What are your names?" Despite the situation, Aquila seemed pleased. The man truly was as mad as a hatter.

"Call me **Will Treaty.**" The one in the cloak replied with his fake name.

"And I'm **Billy Joel**." The taguel said. Really, that's your alias?

Suddenly, the future children came rushing in through the alleyways.

"Okay, not even I am bloodthirst enough to attempt a fight like this." Aquila pulled out a crystal-like item and began talking into it. "**Koto**, get me the hell outta here!" And just like that, Aquila disappeared in a flash of light.

Lucina turned Soren. "Soren, I need to talk to-" The man slipped into the darkness and ran off.

"I need you here, dammit." Lucina said in a weak whisper.

Severa placed a hand on Lucina's shoulder. "It'll be fine Lucina, we'll make it without him"

"But am I strong enough to lead you by myself?"

"You practically raised some of us, I'm pretty sure you can handle anything. Remember our promise? We'll all defeat Grima together, and if Soren doesn't like it he can kiss all of our asses!"

Lucina smiled faintly "Thank you, Severa."

XXXXXXXXX

_Aquila pov_

"It's so cozy in here when the annoying people are gone." I said happily as I sat in the grimleal headquarters.

"_People_? I thought you only hated the one." Koto said. Despite being the oldest of Grima's servants, she looked as if she was a little kid. She had orange hair tied into pigtails and yellow eyes. She wore yellow overalls which further amplified her young appearance along with orange boots and black knee high socks. She seemed rather innocent until she decided to burn you alive.

"Well I don't mind Conner when he isn't planning a coup against Gangrel. I'm really just glad that the yaoi fangirl is off training the recruits, it's so much quieter without her."

"I can't blame you for that one. Oh, right, Validar told me something interesting while you were gone." Koto giggled.

"What is it?" I asked inquisitively.

"He said it will only be a couple months at most before we get to make our move."

**XXXXXXX**

**Welp, one chapter and a thousand references later, and we're here. I was originally going to have the arena tournament in it, but I got sidetracked by exposition. I'm probably going to skip the arena and give a recap on it in the next chapter, since the only plot point happening at the time is Lucina showing off her falchion. The next chapter is going to be fun to write. *Maniacal laughter***

** Anyway, see you next time!**


	8. Retired

**Review answer corner!**

**Cormag: Yes! Fear the wrath of Squid-Quila! Mwahahaha!**

**Ace: Yep, and the references will only get worse with time.**

**Gerome's quote actually came to me once when I started thinking**

**of things Batman would never say.**

**Simetra:Holy shit, someone actually caught the Ranger's Apprentice **

**reference! **

**Now, for a recap of the characters introduced so far:**

**Kira**

**age: 19 (this fic takes place 3 years from now, so I may mention things I'm excited for in his pov, such as the Attack on Titan movie that's in production, or Dragon Age Inquisition)**

**trump:Devil speed( 2x speed and skill, ½ def and res)**

**Brutus**

**Age:24**

**trump: Exhausting strike(Guaranteed crit in exchange for half of remaining health)**

**Crimson**

**Age: 23**

**trump: Insanity(doubles all stats but loses ability to distinguish friend from foe.**

**Derek:**

**Age: 18**

**trump:Repent(+25% health, -3 str)**

**Dolce**

**age:16**

**Trump: Draconic resonance(Doubles dragonstone boost, but gives a stat decline afterwards)**

**The villains thus far:**

**Aquila**

**Age:20**

**Trump: Supreme guard(Massive boost to defences, no drawback)**

**Conner**

**Age:27**

**Koto**

**Age:28 **

**Future children:**

**Soren**

**Age: 21**

**Others(Only aliases are known so far, no names, no nothing.)**

**Mikasa**

**Heathcliff**

**Will Treaty**

**Billy Joel**

**Note: Koto was created by Bunri**

**Disclaimer: I will never be rich enough to own even a part of Fire Emblem**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

We charged into the burning village filled with plegian foot soldiers. As far as the others knew, we were on survey duty. Nothing could have made them suspect the truth, that we were in the middle of the event that would start the second plegian war. Alongside me were Crimson, Brutus, Derek, Dolce, and Maribelle.

The soldiers were very weak, Gangrel was trying to start a war, not end it, so he didn't need to send a particularly strong force after us. Hell, Maribelle was managing a few kills, and she was strictly a healer.

If Soren was here, he probably would be able to take these guys out by himself. That guy was insanely powerful. Back in the arena, while the rest of us barely managed to defeat our foes, he had no trouble whatsoever with our own. When we finished, he even gave us a look that seemed to scream 'What the hell took you guys so long? I had time to leave, get dinner, and come back in the time it took you to get finished.'.

Oh hey, they're sending some actual muscle now, I should probably focus more. I activated devil speed to overwhelm them. There isn't much one can do about an opponent that is too fast for him or her to hit. There is the fact that anything more than a graze has a decent chance to kill me, however, so I had to be careful. The soldiers still weren't an extreme threat, since they still weren't sending their A game.

Out of nowhere, a troop of higher ranking soldiers came through. Along with help from their weaker counterparts, they quickly and easily overtook us. I felt a large blow from behind, and everything faded to black.

XXXXXXXXX

I awoke inside a dingy, ash covered cell. There was barely any light peeking through the cracks in the wall, causing the already dim room to take on an even more monochrome appearance. The guard seemed to take notice of my waking, and turned towards me. He took a step forward and… walked right through the bars? What the hell?

The guard's clothing and overall appearance seemed to stick out against the gray of the cell. He had brown skin, and wore a brown leather ensemble with the exception of his hooded blue cloak. He seemed very young for a soldier, in fact there was no way he was older than, say, fifteen or so.

The guard had a lance strapped to his back, and held a plate of food out in front of him. Under his cloak he had my sword and tome bag.

He kneeled down and gave me the plate. "Eat up, you'll need to be at full strength for whatever crazy plan you have in mind."

I graciously took the plate and began to eat ravenously. " So you're helping us? " I asked between gulps.

"Hey. not so loud!" The man whispered exasperatedly. "But yeah, I'm helping you. My name is **Martin Cear**, by the way." He took his lance and weakened the chains at my wrists. "It would be a good idea to give you a fighting chance."

"Well , I'm gonna need my weapons to stand any chance." I said with a deadpan.

"I was getting to that!" He said, pulling out my weapons. "Let's see where we can hide these."

Martin helped me find places to conceal my weapons, then left to help the others.

XXXXXXXXX

_Martin pov_

After hours of waiting here, the shepherds came. If the game is truly accurate, then Ricken should be here in a few minutes. It took these guys long enough.

"_At least you got more than enough time to prepare, we'll get to see what your trump can really do now."_

You have a fair enough point, Ray.

Ricken came bursting in in to save Maribelle, and the others used the opportunity to break free of their chains and grab their weapons.

Aversa raised her hand and launched a flux at us. I jumped in front of the blast, taking its full force.

Dust flew up around us, and when it cleared, Aversa saw that we were all perfectly fine.

"_That's our stabilize for you: The longer we sit still the more our defence and resistance increase. After sitting for hours like we did, it becomes extremely sturdy."_

The others came out from behind me, attacking Aversa. The woman was an extremely skilled flier, but if you take away her mount the strength and magic will be her only decent stats.

Kira, Brutus, and Derek surrounded her, striking continuously. They managed a few decent blows and were backing her into a corner.

Aversa reached into her pouch for a better weapon, only to find that the contents were gone.

Crimson stood there, holding a bolting tome that she tossed to Robin. "Here ya go, feathers."

Robin caught it and looked to Khrow. "Tie her up, we'll interrogate her at the castle."

Aversa lifted her hand to cast flux, but Robin stopped her, holding up the bolting. "You know, this thing was made to attack enemies from far away. I wonder what it would do if it was fired from point blank range. I'm sure the results would be absolutely beautiful."

Aversa gulped audibly at this. "That's my sister." Khrow said with a smirk as he pulled out the restraints.

Soldiers came pouring through the ravine next to the battlefield. I ran to the fore. "I got these guys, you go ahead."

As far as physical abilities go, I'm only as strong as the average soldier. Despite this, my trump allows me to fight multiple enemies. Numbers don't matter all that much when you practically have armor for skin.

XXXXXXXXXX

_Crimson pov_

As I went after my opponents, I saw that we had two new recruits, one of which was a very familiar face.

"Crimson! How've you been? You have anything to sell me? I recently got an order of your favorite chocolates!" Anna said as she fought off a few soldiers with ease.

"I've been doing pretty good. Yep, I managed to steal some awesome stuff! The normal discount applies to the sweets, right? Who's the other newbie anyway?"

"We'll talk prices later. That's Donnel, he was at a village that was attacked by brigands when Brutus's squad found him."

"_Are you gonna ask how the hell she knows who Brutus is?"_

No, the Annas know everyone in the halidom, even if you don't know the Anna's.

"So, how's the family?"

"Pretty good, my sister got married last month."

"The one near ferox?"

"Yep, that one. The guy speaks in an accent I've never heard anywhere else and carries a massive shield. When the store is attacked, he often throws the thing at them and calls himself 'Captain Canada' whatever that's supposed to be."

"He sounds interesting."

"Yeah, people like him are the reason I love family reunions."

A barbarian jumped out of nowhere and tried to attack Anna, but Derek rushed from out of nowhere and severe barbarian's axe hand from his body.

"Need a hand." He said, winking at Anna.

XXXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

I charged through the group, with Lon'qu and Brutus by my side. I dashed through the crowd along with Lon'qu, swiftly eliminating the opposition with our overwhelming speed.

Brutus threw a javelin that embedded itself in the neck of the leader.

"That's all of them, looks like we can l-" Brutus paused, frozen in shock at what he was looking at.

I followed my gaze to see Frederick locked in battle with an enemy soldier, a taguel to be specific.

"_Isn't Panne supposed to be the only living Taguel? Unless- Oh shit we have to get down there NOW!"_

Using devil speed to get there as quickly as possible, I rushed towards the fight.

"You fight well, what is your name?" Frederick said to the man.

"I'm Conner Price, and the same to you, good sir." The taguel said.

He seems abnormally strong for a normal footsoldier.

"_Well that's only to be expected of the freaking servants of Grima, but it can be associated with primal force- An ability similar to Dolce's dragonheart that allows him to keep his entire beast stone boost regardless of form."_

I arrived in the fray, with Anna, Crimson, Derek, and Donnel.

"It seems the cavalry is coming in, I should finish my job soon." Conner said as his form began to shift. His claws grew longer, his skin paled, his ears elongated, and his eyes became a crimson red.

"_That's inner beast- This guy's trump, also similar to Dolce's. It magnifies his beast stone's boost by three, but afterwards he loses access to the boost and suffers a stat decrease for a short time."_

Conner rushed at Frederick, sinking his claws into the great knight's stomach. He pulled them out and flicked the blood off.

"My job is done, now I take my leave." Conner said before turning away.

"Wait!" Brutus said angrily"

"Hmm?"

"Why did you come here and then leave like that? What's the point?"

"To make a demonstration" Conner stated, "of what happens when one crosses the grimleal."

Conner snapped his fingers, causing risen to appear. He turned away, changing into the form of a massive albino rabbit, before leaving.

XXXXXXXX

_Brutus pov_

"The good news is that Frederick will survive. The bad news is that he will no longer be able to fight on the frontlines." Lissa said with a sorrowful tone.

"What? Why not?" I asked incredulously.

"There is only so much healing magic can do, and it leaves lasting effects on the patient. Frederick was younger than Ricken the first time he saw war, he's been healed more times than any of us can count. Any more healing might just kill him. Chrom said it should still be fine for him to train the recruits."

"At least he will still get the chance to help Ylisse, that is the most important thing to him. C-can I see him?"

"Well, he's not exactly in good shape, but I think he needs you there with him" Lissa said nervously.

I immediately barged into my mentor's room.

"Hello, Brutus. I'm sure you heard the news?" Frederick said as if he were having an everyday conversation.

"How the hell can you be so calm?" I said in an acidic tone.

"Because I know that I have others to carry on in my footsteps. I've taught you everything there is to learn from me. Sully, Stahl, and Kellam also show a lot of potential as well. You all were going to pass me up before long either way, it's probably better that I stay behind and give the trainees the push I need. There is one thing I need to ask of you, however."

"Yes teacher?"

Frederick pulled out a silver chain with the symbol of a spear and a sword crossing.

"This is the mark of house Wary, and I want you to bear it. My family boasts descendance from both the houses of Baldur and Noba. I cannot grant you with the blood of our family, but as far as I'm concerned, you are my younger brother."

For some strange reason, my body began to glow.

"_It seems that the dragons agree. You now have major Baldur and Noba blood running through your veins."_

But how is that even possible?

"_There is a form of backup system the dragons had planned. If a member of a house adopts a new member to the family, the dragon aligned with it can choose to give the person the house's powers. They can also do this in the case that there are no living descendants of the house. This rule, however, does not apply to earth dragons , unless by some form of complex ritual. You might even be able to wield Gae bolg now, or pass it and Tyrfing on to your descendants."_

Gae Bolg, as in the cursed lance?

"_That was simply a result of a spat between dragons."_

A spat that caused several deaths?

"_Point taken."_

"This," Frederick said, pulling me back to my senses, "could it be? The rite of passage? If so, then you truly are a member of house Wary. I have something to show you when we arrive at Ylisstol."

XXXXXXXXX

Frederick and I were standing in the middle of a strange room. On one wall was a spear with an ornate head and a leather cord attached to the shaft. On the other was an open silver blade with a gold hilt and ruby embedded in the crossguard.

"These are the Gae bolg and the Tyrfing, our family's two greatest treasures. Today we will see if you have the aptitude to wield the Gae bolg." Frederick hands me the spear and pulls out a training dummy made of iron. "If you can wield the spear, then the head will sink into the dummy as if it were made of straw, if you can't it will simply bounce off aimlessly."

I charged towards the dummy and held the spear by the cord. I flung it towards the dummy, and it sank in. With a flick of my wrist, I brought It spiraling back into my hand.

"What do you think?" I asked my former teacher.

"Well, you certainly are able to wield the spear. I'm proud of you, I was never able to own up to my Noba blood, despite my best efforts. I believe that one day you will become a far better warrior than I could ever hope to be."

"Thank you, teacher. It means more to me than you can imagine."

"All I said was the truth. Now I must take my leave, I'm supposed to go and introduce myself to the recruits."

"Try not to be too hard on them, I don't think any of them are ready for the Frederick fitness hour just yet."

Frederick smiled at this "Don't worry, that's not scheduled until the second day." He chuckled and left the room.

You've done so much for me, I thought as I readied my spear for another practice throw. I'll find a way to make things right. I'll hunt that guy down-

I threw the spear and it spiralled behind the dummy. I pulled the cord and brought it into the dummy's back.

-and I'll plunge this spear so deep in him I'll have to cut the damn thing out!

"_That guy said he did this to show what happens when one crosses the grimleal. I'm pretty sure he was talking about naga's servants, so it probably won't be long before we see him again."_

Good, that means I don't have a long wait before I get my revenge. I swear I'll shove this thing in him so deep I'll have to cut the damn thing out.

XXXXXXXX

? pov

I felt a fireball whiz by me, singing some of my hair as it flew by.

"_Incoming."_

You could have warned me before the explosion, you know?

"_Sorry man, I'm on break."_

What break time? If I burn, you go down too!

"_Logic is not a very good weapon against me, dumbass."_

Oh hey, there's another fireball.

"_Look out"_

Vete al infierno

"_If I burn, you go down too, right?"_

Callate!

"_Don't hate the character, hate the writer!"_

Why is it that I expect weird statements like this?

"_Ah, I see you're finally getting used to me."_

I wish I had some music to drown you out.

"_This'll be the day we've waited for! This'll be the day we open up the door!"_

Do you have any idea how terrible that sounds in our voice

"_Shut up! We have the voice of an angel!"_

Yeah, an angel with more than a few screws loose.

The mage we had been fighting leapt down from the roof to land in front of me.

"You're **Blaze Fenix**, leader of the bloodrose legion, correct."

"Wouldn't you just love to know." I said as I brought my spear up and struck, tearing straight through the mage's robes.

Ugh, I hate fighting.

"_Nah, pretty sure you love it."_

And how do you know this?

"_Well first of: I'm you, second: you're the leader of the largest mercenary group in all of Rosanne!"_

You strike a fine point, Ace. Now, let's see if there are any others around here.

"_I miss home soo much! My Vita, my Ipod, my laptop! *sob*"_

What are you doing?

"_I'm making you homesick since I have nothing better to do."_

Well, could you keep it down? I'm trying to see the future and I need to focus to do that!

Now let's see, there will be two more, a myrmidon and an archer. It also seems I'll have some backup coming.

As my premonition ended, I was faced with said enemies bursting through the door. Damn waiting periods!

I saw an axe tear through the archer as I launched a ball of fire that incinerated the myrmidon.

I saw a flash of pink and instantly recognized Cherche, who was accompanying us for the time being.

"Are you okay, Blaze?"

I looked at my reflection on one of the bar's cabinets. "Let's see, hair still silver? Check. Two hazel eyes? Check. Still 6'9? Another check. Still wearing helmetless dark knight armor? I think I'm good."

"You should take these things more seriously! What if you got hurt or something?" She asked as she walked closer, making me painfully aware of how little her wyvern rider armor actually covered.

"I would be fine either way, wounds are part of the job." I said calmly.

"Virion will need you at full strength when we go to Plegia. If your prediction was right, then there is a war coming and he'll be in the middle of it!" Oh, right. It was the duke she was worrying about, not me.

"We should head out. Don't worry about these things. We'll run into a lot of battles, but that's something you get used to quick in my line of work. We can take what they throw at us, we're not an army of helpless clerics, after all."

It was true, I had grown used to these things in the months I had spent in Rosanne. I used to live a normal life, but that was all gone now. The last thing I remember was preparing to move to California. Who would've thought that I would end up moving to a whole new world.

_"Quit getting caught up in the past. What you lost isn't coming back. This world needs your help or it'll go to shit. We may be stuck here but we're not without purpose."_

That was actually pretty wise of you, Ace.

_"Now let's go to Narnia! I mean Plegia."_

Couldn't expect you to stay calm long, huh?

_"Nope."_

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**First off, Martain was made by X-Ray99 and Blaze by Aceplayer22. Blaze isn't going to make an appearance in the story for a while, so I gave him a quick intro. The attempt on Emmeryn's life will take place a couple of months later in story, so there will be a short timeskip. Also, apparently dragons can adopt, who would've known? Also, as the title said, Frederick's retired!**

**Please leave a review! See you next time!**


	9. interlude

**Review answer corner!**

**Pyrojack: Yep, I got excited when Ace recommended the RWBY reference. He actually gave me a skeleton for Blaze's introduction, as well as a few others.**

**Ace:I still haven't found an emulator or ROM I can play FE4 on yet, but it's not exceedingly difficult to research what I need. Avert your eyes from the armor! And yes, Narnia!**

**Cormag:Yes, Freddybear! You watch RWBY? Hell yeah! And I actually assumed it would be 'ir' and used Spanish to English. Had I not been an idiot it would have shown me the correct usage.**

**X-ray 99: And here you see what Grima's servants can do. The ones we haven't seen yet are also around that level.**

**Disclaimer: I am not nearly rich enough to own any part of Fire Emblem, Nintendo, or Atlus, who assisted in the making of Awakening.**

**XXXXXXXX**

?pov

I was sitting down to a nice, mediocre meal at a run down bar near Plegia, just minding my own business when-

"It's the risen!"

"Run for your lives!"

"There's nowhere to run to! Take cover wherever it's possible!"

I heaved a great sigh. Really? Couldn't I get one damn day without the need to fight the walking dead? I stood up from my stool.

"Sir? Where are you going? You should stay in here where it's safe!"

I just kept walking out the door.

"Sir, no normal man can take those things on!"

What made him think I was normal. I had freaking silver hair, which I kept in a ponytail, and yellow eyes, a result of a horrible experiment. I was seven feet tall, and wore a dark blue cloak with a blood red cowl , which should be enough to make any man look sketchy. I had hard leather brown pants and gauntlets that were obviously used for armor. On top of all that I had two scabbards on my back, which held my sword and dagger, a bag full of throwing knives, a tome pouch, and a third sack of my 'materials. All in all, I looked pretty damn deadly.

"Don't worry, I'm anything but normal." I said as I walked towards the entrance of town. It shouldn't be too bad. I was a monster hunter, and risen were a form of monster after all.

Let's see, I put a trip wire here, a few mines, blow darts, gravity sigils, and of course a log ram, every trap needs one of those. Okay, all set up

A couple of the risen were taken out by the mines, corpses couldn't take fire very well. Two more were trapped by the sigils, unable to move. I charged towards them and sliced through both with my blade.

"Pathetic."

Another risen hit the trip wire and was hit by a barrage of darts. I threw a knife at its head, almost feeling sorry for the creature.

The log trap was activated by a myrmidon who managed to leap out of the way. I threw a fireball, burning the thing to ash.

I felt an arrow whiz by me, narrowly missing my ear. I raised my hand, preparing one of my favorite spells, blizzard. The risen was encased in a block of ice for a moment before it shattered into pieces.

"Wow, I've gotten worse wounds playing rock-paper-scissors!" Granted, we played rock-paper-death, where whoever won was allowed to hit the loser with their object. We used sandpaper so that there was actually a reason to choose paper.

I walked back into the village to cheers and applause.

"You saved us! How can we repay you?" One man asked.

"Four thousand." I replied.

"What was that sir?" The man asked, confused.

"Four thousand gold."

"B-but we can't give you that much, we'll starve!"

"Don't care, give me the gold."

"Please have mercy on us, sir" A girl said, giving me puppy dog eyes.

"Fine, how much would the meal from earlier cost?"

"About 400, sir."

"I'll take it for free." I said

"Thank you, milord."

I blushed lightly as I walked back to finish my now-cold meal.

"Hey, **Geralt**." I heard a voice from behind me. I turned and saw a girl wearing a white cloak with the hood pulled over her face. She had bright blue eyes and long black hair. There were scars marking her face and hands.

"Hey, **Christian**, I didn't expect to see you here." I smiled slightly.

"Can I come with you, by any chance?" She said nervously.

"I fly solo, besides, all you'll find with me is mercenary work."

"P-p-please? I'm scared to be alone again! There are slavers out there just waiting for a manakete like me! It'll be just like when I lost mom." The girl was trembling, tears forming in her eyes. If I remember correctly, she had some rather rough encounters with slavers back in the other timeline.

I wrapped my arms around her in an awkward attempt to comfort her. "It's okay, I won't let anything like that happen to you again."

"So you'll take me with you?"

"Yes, if it means you won't cry like that anymore."

"Okay, I'll do my best to stay strong." She said nervously.

"That's all I can ask, let's go."

XXXXXXXXX

_?pov_

Ugh, what am I gonna do with him? Oh well, maybe one of the people in this bar know where he is.

"Excuse me sir, have you seen my pet?" I asked the bartender.

"Well what do we have here? A little beauty's graced us with her presence." The men in the bar started to gather around us.

Ugh, I can't stand people like this. My pink hair and green eyes cause me to stand out. In addition to that, my outfit- consisting of: a white shirt and pink vest, brown leather pants and gloves, and two pendants, one inscribed with a wolf and the other with a wyvern- made me look innocent. They probably thought I looked like a perfect target.

"Thank you." Best to play along, that way they'll underestimate you.

"You said your pet is missing?" One of them asked.

"Yes mister, he's black with the brightest blue eyes and is adorable. He responds to Dandelion, like the flower." I said in the sweetest voice possible, which wasn't that difficult since I was usually a very cheerful person.

"If you've lost your puppy, you should come with us. We'll help you find him."

"Yeah, that's a good idea" One of them agreed.

"I can't ask that much of you all."

"Don't worry about it, a girl like you shouldn't be walking the streets alone."

"Why thank you, then."

"How about we play a game while we look for your pet?" Here it comes.

"I love games! What kind of game will we be playing?"

"One that involves getting physical." One of the men walked towards me with a hand out stretched.

"Oh that kind of game." I said as I quickly brought a knife into his neck. "Daddy said I'm too young for those games." I giggled as a man ran towards me.

"Come at me," I said as I jumped over his shoulder, grabbed his arm, and yanked hard with a loud crack. "and you'll see, I'm more than meets the eye." I ducked under them and pulled out a meat cleaver.

Suddenly the floor started to rumble and a black wyvern came rushing out.

"Oh hey darling! Where have you been? I was worried about you!" Dandelion let out a loud growl at this.

"Oh, these guys! They're dinner, eat while they're nice and fresh!" The men ran away screaming at this.

"Tell your little friends to fear the name **Ciri**!" I yelled at them.

"That should teach them not to mess with people on the streets. I guess that takes care of the bandit problem, we should go see the mayor."

XXXXXX

As I walked down the streets, I heard an interesting exchange.

"Have you heard of the cardinal of the forest?"

"No, who is he?"

"They say he's a priest who teaches the ways of Naga behind Gangrel's back!"

"That's ridiculous! the grimleal would have caught someone like that!"

"They say that only one who comes in peace may traverse the woods. Risen are the closest things to soldiers anyone ever sees down there. The also say he has an assassin and a thief who guard the chapel."

"There's no way anything like that could be true! Such thinking is simply implausible!"

"I've met no less than three people who speak of the miracles that man performs. Each one of them was a devout grimleal and now they spout the teachings of Naga. They even say the cardinal has somehow learned the forgotten art: light magic."

"Where does the man live? I'd sure like to see what all the fuss is about!."

"They say he lives in the forest of souls, north of the capitol."

There is only one person who fit that description, and it was just like him to do something like teach the way of Naga right behind the capitol of Plegia.

XXXXXXXXX

I walked through the forest, finding what seemed to be a.. small hidden village? There was a small congregation surrounding a preacher. The man had short, blonde hair and wore a long blue robe that had the mark of naga emblazoned on the front. He had bright green eyes, and a thick scar running down the right side of his face. While the others couldn't see it, I knew that .he had the brand of Naga on his back. The man's name was **Julius**.

"That will be all for today's sermon, if you would like to join us in the clergy, you are welcome to stay in the village for lessons. Otherwise, I will see you all when you can make the trip again. Also, **Syrenne**, would you please give that man his bullion back?"

A girl wearing a battered black cloak walked up to one of the men. She had dark red hair that went down to her shoulders, something that was usually considered a Plegian trait, but that was questionable. She looked to be a year or two older than me.

"I'm sorry sir, it's an old habit of mine." She said seeming embarrassed, although her eyes said something different.

"It's quite alright, young lady." The man said, and with that he left. Soon all that was left were the church staff.

As I walked into the village, Julius greeted me. "Why, if it isn't Ciri. How have you fared?"

"Do you know this girl sir?" One of the priests-in-training asked.

"Yes, she is a good friend of mine. She is a good girl, although I would advise you not to get on her bad side . May we have some time to ourselves, perhaps?" He replied in a well mannered tone.

"Yes sir!" And with that it was down to me, Julius, Syrenne, and a girl wearing an assassin's uniform.

Julius noticed that I was staring at the others. "Oh right, I don't believe that you all have been acquainted. This is Syrenne." He pointed to the thief from earlier. "And this is her older sister, **Silver**." He pointed at the assassin. She stood at about the same height as the thief and had similar hair, albeit a little lighter. She had a black headband that hung to a little less than shoulder length, despite being tightly secured.

"I don't deserve to call herself my sister after what I've done. By Marth's blue hair the girl doesn't even remember me due to the shock."

"It's okay Silver, we can make new memories!"Syrenne responded.

"But I left you for dead! I should have taken you with me!"

"Do you honestly think it would have been better if I was an assassin? I was safer as a thief!"

"But-"

"No buts, Silver, I forgive you." Syrenne hugged Silver tightly, refusing to let go until she conceded defeat."

"So.. how do you all know each other?" I asked.

"Well," Julius began "We had no idea about Syrenne, their parents avoided talking about anything personal in their messages lest the grimleal find the letters and hunt Syrenne and Silver down. Silver, has become a friend of mine since we gave her jobs occasionally. Soren, as well as my fellow members of the royal family met her as well."

"So you already know Lucina then?" I said, turning to Silver.

"We don't mention Lucina." I'll take that as a yes.

"Those two don't get along very well. I told Silver about our plans to come back to the past despite Lucina's protests."

"Lucina was against extra help?"

"They really don't get along."

"I don't see what's so bad about her, she seemed pretty nice to me." Syrenne said.

"You don't know her, Syrenne. You don't know her."

XXXXXXXXXXX

We walked along the encampment, heading to Julius's home.

"So, how do you keep the grimleal out?"

"We have special confusion wards set up, they actually detect whether any dark magic runs through an intruder. All grimleal extremists have a little bit of dark energy due to excessive communion with an earth combined with the woods basically traps them in an endless maze. Even if one were to come here, the ley lines of this area dampen dark magic and amplify light. That is with the exception of the training area, which dampens all magic."

"And in addition to that, I'm pretty damn good with a bow."Silver said.

"And I know my way around a sword and dagger!" Syrenne chimed in.

"Wow! You really thought everything through, huh?" I said.

"Well, this village was first built by bishops from jugdral, then improved by immigrants from Tellius. All I did was use a restoration staff and prepare the wards."

"By the way, they said you performed miracles here. Is that true?"

"No, I may be a cardinal bishop but I'm not a miracle worker. It's just that this place magnifies my healing magic. There's also the fact that Plegia doesn't have a large healing corps so they don't have much to compare it to."

We made our way into Julius's house. The shelves there were covered in scriptures and tomes. There were also staves sprawled out everywhere. The most noticeable items were the book of Naga, Morningstar, which was Julius's personal tome that he created alongside his father, and another tome which was written in another language. Maybe it was from Tellius?

Out of the corner of my eye I saw silver holding a bowl and drinking from it.

"Hey! I need that for communion you know!" Julius shouted, enraged.

"Oh lighten up, I don't think I've ever seen you drink."

"In my family, we only ever drink to celebrate." Julius's eyes darkened, as if he were remembering something he wished he could forget.

Then he perked up, pulling out a glass. "Well, we have a new member among our number. I guess that counts for something."

"Hey, get me a glass!" Syrenne and I shouted simultaneously.

"Syrenne, you're sixteen. Ciri, you're fourteen. You need to wait a few more years."

"Lishen, to hiiim *hic* he'th gof a poinf!" Silver slurred.

"Ugh, I guess this party's over." Julius said. "I'll show you to your house, Ciri. Then I'll take Silver to her place." He began walking out of the house.

"What am I going to do with you?" I heard him grumble at Silver.

XXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

As I walked around the castle, I saw a rather lecherous looking man speaking to Emmeryn.

"Milady,would you have any time to spare on a man such as myself?" Look at her eyes, not her chest, dumbass. Emmeryn looked as if she didn't want to be within a kilometer of the man, but didn't have the heart to send him away.

I heaved a sigh, she was too kind for her own good sometimes. I shadow traveled in front of the man- a skill I had mastered in the time that had passed since the war began- placing my sword about an inch away from his throat.

"Who the hell are you?" The man asked me.

"I'm her bodyguard." I said in a matter of fact tone, as if this were simply a casual conversation.

"I doubt one as elegant as Emmeryn would entrust her life with a rapscallion such as yourself!"

"Would you like to test my worth?" I activated an ability called gathering clouds, channeling wind along my blade. I learned the skill about a week or two ago while defending the border from a company of Plegians. I was using a basic wind tome to avoid doing too much damage.

Blood trickled lightly down the man's throat and his face took on a shocked expression. "I think I'll pass on that." The man bolted out of the castle as if he had a troop of pegasus knights hunting him down.

"Did you really have to threaten him, Kira?" Emmeryn asked with a worried expression.

"Sometimes it's the only way. There is also the fact that people like that piss me off."

Emmeryn smacked me lightly on the back of the head. "How many times have I told you about using foul language in the castle?"

"Fine, I get it. Hey, would you like to go for a stroll around the city? I actually have a day off for once." The past month or so was extremely taxing. My days were made up of training with Brutus- this consisted of Martin, Dolce, Derek, and I having to fend off Crimson while she was using her trump. it wasn't exactly fun- Sparring matches with Brutus, Chrom, Khrow, and Robin, and helping Frederick train the recruits. I was an assistant trainer for the speed units and mage corps, and I was also brought in to help the more sluggish units learn to fight swifter units. In addition to all of this, there were also risen hordes and border attacks to deal with. All things considered, my bodyguard duty was practically a coffee break.

"Yes, that would be alright." Emmeryn grasped my hand and I froze slightly.

"I wouldn't want to be separated from my bodyguard in the midst of the huge crowd, now would I?" Emmryn said and we walked out into the street.

XXXXXXXXXX

We walked by a small jewelry shop, where I saw Stahl. Why was he in there?

"Hey Em, can we head in there?" I pointed at Stahl and she nodded.

I walked up behind Stahl. "I didn't think you were the type to enjoy jewelry, Stahl. What are you looking for?"

"Who is- oh, hey Kira. Are you here to buy something for Emmeryn?" I felt my cheeks heat up at this.

Emmeryn laughed at this. "No, we were actually wondering why you were here. Buying a ring for a special someone, perhaps?"

Stahl raised his hands up. "You caught me."

"It's for Sully, right?" I asked. While the two weren't necessarily together, they did seem rather close.

"Yeah. Was it that obvious?"

"Not really, you two just seemed close. What about this one? It's petty, but not so much that Sully would find it too feminine."

"Yep, that's the one!" Stahl said. "I'm not going to ask how you knew that, Kira,but thank you. Have fun on your date guys!

"It's not a date, Stahl!" I said angrily.

"He's right, it's just an excursion." Not helping, Em.

We left the store and began looking for another place to visit. On the way, we saw Lon'qu being dragged along by Lissa, who was hugging his arm rather tightly.

"Hey Kira! I don't think Chrom wants any in-laws anytime soon!" Lon'qu said in a tone that almost concealed his teasing.

"Says the guy hanging around his little sister. I see Lissa's helped you to get rid of your girl issues." The two of us were on pretty friendly terms, since we were both roped into helping Frederick with the recruits.

"Hey, let's all go together!" Lissa said cheerfully.

"How about we go over there?" Emmeryn pointed at a stall that Anna and Derek were setting up.

"No! last time they tricked me into paying triple for a tactics book!" I bellowed.

"That was only because you're gullible." Lon'qu deadpanned.

"No I'm not!"

"What about the time you gave one of your best shirts to a beggar on the street who turned out to be a wealthy merchant?" Lissa began.

"Or the time you donated a bullion to the 'Save the Taguel' foundation? Until Conner showed up, I thought they were extinct!" Lon'qu continued.

"Or the time you unwittingly helped Crimson raid the pantry for sweets?" Emmeryn landed the finishing blow.

"Fine, fine, I get it." I conceded defeat.

Everyone laughed, and joined in.

"How about the cafe that opened up last week?" Emmeryn suggested. No one had any objections, so we headed in.

If only every day could be calm like that.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Welp, I got a lot of the introductions out of the way but other than that I didn't really do jack. The next big action scene will either begin at the end of the next chapter or the start of the one after that. **

**Until then, see you guys later.**


	10. Interlude pt2

**Review answer corner:**

**Ace: Yep, Geralt has a lady for his journey. And he definitely won't stutter randomly during their conversations. *Gives Ciri a shot* Ciri: Hey, thish ishn't that shtrung*collapses***

**Pyrojack:Yep, he even hails from Rivia. That is one of Geralt's skills, it gives him a trap command, similar to rally, lockpick, steal, or dance.**

**Cormag:Out of the main characters, I'd have to say Ruby, if only because she's the main character. (Otherwise, it would be a tie between her, Blake, and Weiss). As for my favorite overall, it's a tie between Lie Ren and Sun Wukong. Not certain about the rest because I only have two(maybe three) of the 2nd gen supports set in stone. When I thought of the subplot, I immediately wanted to put those two in there.**

**To all: All aboard the S.S Kimmeryn, with your captain, Ace, your first mate, Cormag, and your navigator, Pyrojack. I will be your tour guide on this wondrous journey!**

**Disclaimer: I own neither Nintendo nor the glorious Atlus, the kings of Jrpgs.**

**XXXXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

For the recruits, today was an extremely stressful day. It was the day that they would face the first set of examinations. Any who failed would have to repeat the curriculum of the past month, while the top student in each classification would be allowed to skip over the next month. For the instructors, it was rather boring because at least four of the top students were obvious choices.

A blur of black and orange flew by as a myrmidon flew by. Simply from the speed, I could tell It was **Kyouko**, who was easily the most skilled of the myrmidons. She had long black hair and gray eyes that sometimes made it hard to read her emotions. If I remember correctly, she was the daughter of a swordmaster from Chon'sin and an Assassin who had been sent to train with their military.

She made her way swiftly past the obstacles and to the ring of automated training dummies and pulled out her daito and shoto. The first two came towards her, a fighter and a knight. The she slid easily past the fighter's movements, using the opening its axe swing caused to get in a quick strike to the neck. The knight made an overhead strike that she parried with her daito, a rather unorthodox choice as that was supposed to be her primary took her shoto and sunk the blade into its chestplate.

Next, a myrmidon came charging, the real test. She used a cross block to defend against the first strike, then made a strike with her daito, only to be blocked. As the next attack came, she flipped her shoto into a knife fighting position and used it to hook the blade down. She quickly struck at the mymidon's shoulder pad, then flipped around to strike the other and coming around one last time to split the dummy in half.

"_Ah, going for a flashy finish, I knew there was a reason we liked her. I guess you could say she's a super trainee level myrmidon, eh?"_

Don't even try to make that reference.

I saw Lon'qu smirk at the last move. We had taught them that technique, which was a prerequisite for astra, a few days ago in class. We hadn't expected any of them to master the technique for at least another month.

It seemed that Kyouko had already taken her place at the top of her class, and was going to skip a month of training.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The other exams went on in a similar manner, and none of the recruits actually failed the test. I was now with Lon'qu, Robin, Khrow, Derek, Crimson, and Vaike preparing to give a special surprise to some of the recruits. In addition to Kyouko, there was **Marcus**, a mercenary with light brown hair and green eyes. He was the son of one of the conscripts from the last war who had managed to go from a regular soldier to a hero. He was a free spirit who lived every day as if it would be his last, a very good frame of mind to have in our occupation. Despite his carefree nature, he was very determined and put every possible effort into his attempts to become stronger. Judging from some of his actions, it seemed that he was also determined to win Kyouko's heart, as he would occasionally do dangerous things in an attempt to impress her. Kyouko's cold nature made it difficult to tell whether these attempts actually made it across.

There was also **Aelia**, a fighter who hailed from the slums of Ylisse. She had shoulder length blond hair and sapphire blue eyes. Many of the male recruits took a fancy to her and attempted to flirt with her, although many of them lost their teeth as Aelia bashed their faces in. She had the most physical strength of any of the recruits.

Finally, there was **Agrona**, who despite being classed as a mage was being trained to become a tactician by both Robin and Khrow. She had long, auburn hair reaching halfway down her back and cold onyx eyes. She had lived on a border village with her parents, a sage and a dark knight, until a group of brigands came and razed the entire settlement. She knew the horrors of war better than any recruits, but rather than being intimidated, the experience tempered the fire of her heart. She wasn't very skilled combat wise, but she had a sharper mind than many of our nation's elite mages.

The other teachers and I pulled out sheaths that we had hidden under our armor. Each of these students had brought weapons that once belonged to his or her parents, but they had to put them into the armory when they came here. With permission and some financial aid from Emmeryn, we had the weapons reforged to become unbreakable. I pulled out a daito while Lon'qu pulled shoto and we gave them to Kyouko. These were the blades that had belonged to her mother during her time as a swordmaster. The blades were named jinsei and shine, because the shoto was used to safeguard the life of the wielder while the daito was used to bring death upon the opponent. The shoto was made of flexible alloys that allowed for easier parries while the daito was light and sharp as a razor.

Derek pulled out a buckler while Crimson fished out a gladius, and they granted them to Marcus. The buckles was called the behemoth and the blade was dubbed the iron fang. As he was now, there was nothing special he could do with the equipment, but according to the twin tacticians he would eventually be able to use aegis and pavise with the buckler and the sword could be used in the same manner as a brave blade.

Vaike bestowed Aelia with a tomahawk named piercer, which had been a weapon her father used to fend off bandits. It moved at a swift speed and could easily rip through the enemy's defenses.

Khrow pulled out a white blade while Robin held a fire tome. The blade was Lethes, a powerful weapon that her mother bore in battle. It's might was equal to a silver blade. The tome was called Inti, and burned like a dying blaze and had the durability of an average fire tome.

I saw a figure wearing knight armor walking up to our group. As he grew closer I could tell that it was **Cassius**, Brutus' lieutenant. The man had short silver hair and pale violet eyes. The man was very skilled, and there was talk of him becoming captain now that Brutus was in the shepherds. Despite this, he preferred to focus on others rather than himself. This did not mean that he was any form of pushover. According to Brutus, the man one beat the living shit out of another soldier who implied that he didn't deserve his post. Consequently, no one ever questioned the lieutenant's orders.

"I saw some of the exams, you all were much better than what was to be expected of you. You all may just rise through the ranks in the future."

Frederick walked up "I would prefer you not congratulate my students too much, Cassius. I prefer their egos at their current sizes."

We all laughed, and celebrated with them a little more before we left for the castle.

XXXXXXX

_Brutus pov_

Cordelia charged at me on her pegasus. I brought my spear up, barely managing to parry the attack.

Cordelia's troop had rotated with another troop for the week, and this was her last day before she went back to the post. I was taking advantage of her time here to get some practice against a flying unit.

Her blows were merciless and swift. It was extremely difficult for me to keep up with her mount. I dodged another of her strikes and attempted to counter, only for my training spear to meet empty air.

Before I had time to recover, the shaft of her spear met with my face. I fell to the ground, dropping my weapon as I went.

Cordelia walked up to me, holding out her hand. "Are you alright?"

"Yes. That was rather refreshing, actually."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's not very often that I get the chance to spar with someone of your talent. Those that can keep up with me usually have their own tasks to attend to. When I first started, pretty much anyone could beat me in a sparring match. I would often lose to Stahl, Sully, even Kellam. In the last year or two before we got all these new shepherds, Frederick and Chrom had become the only opponents I ever lost to."

"So you missed losing?"

"Yes, it takes a loss for one to realize just how much they can improve. Now, I have plenty of opponents to test my strength against." I gave a small smile.

"And what if you run out of opponents?"

"Then the only thing standing in my way will be myself."

"If I remember correctly, I've heard rumors of you having powers no other can replicate. Where was that in our match?"

"You'd like to go again then? I could use the practice, the only other experience I've had with fliers has been against a few amateur wyvern riders."

"Let's begin then." Cordelia said as she brandished her practice lance.

This time I knew what to expect. I rolled out of the way of her charge, then parried the upcoming barrage. I leapt at her, using my trump as I struck her lance.

Her lance snapped in half and Cordelia was knocked towards the ground. She skidded but held her stance, brandishing her broken weapon as if the fragments were a pair of blades. She leapt at me in an overhead strike, but she was much too slow on foot. I sp4n ma spear around, disarming her before placing the tip at her throat.

"Looks like I win this time." I said with a smirk.

"I still have a long way to go." Cordelia said, looking disheartened.

"Don't worry, I have been doing this since I could lift my weapon. You have only been training for a year. The fact that you were even able to keep up with me is a testament to your talent."

Well, there was Kira, as well as the other envoys, but that was beside the point. Being blessed be Naga tended to give a person an edge over others.

"I keep forgetting how long you have been doing this. I honestly should know that, since you used to always stop by and help the recruits with their form. I remember that you spent hours nagging Sumia over every small detail." Cordelia laughed at the memory.

"She still doesn't keep her stance wide enough." I grumbled "But I guess that doesn't matter much, since she isn't a footsoldier."

"Did you know about her and Chrom? She just told me a few days ago." Cordelia asked.

"Yeah, I told Chrom he needed to go ahead and propose before it was too late." I nodded.

Cordelia's face took on a sad tone. "Oh."

"Why? What's wrong?" I grew worried.

"Well, you see…" She mustered her strength, trying to finish her sentence "I had feelings for him."

Oh that was the problem, I could understand "If it's any consolation, the girl I cared for got engaged recently."

"Who is it? I didn't realize you were even looking for someone."

"It was princess Lissa." I sighed.

"Oh, sorry about that. I kind of helped Lon'qu pick out the ring last time I was on break." She laughed nervously.

I chuckled at this. "So we both screwed each other over, huh?"

Cordelia laughed "I guess so."

"You know, whenever I helped with your training and Chrom walked by, a lot of the male recruits would start talking about how they wished you would look at one of them. I know what they meant now." I chuckled.

"And whenever Lissa came by, I heard the other girls saying the same about you. That makes a lot more sense now."

"Hey, do you know where any good bars are?"

"Yeah, there's one that my squad drags me to a couple of blocks out, why?"

"Come with me. It's your last day of break before you have to spend another week and a half at the border. I'll pay for your drinks, since it's your break and I helped mess up your chances with Chrom. I think now's as good a time as any to go wind down some."

"I try not to drink, since it dulls the senses, but I think I'll take you up on your offer." She smiled lightly and walked ahead of me. "I'll show you the way."

XXXXXXXX

_Three days later_

_Kira pov_

Today marked two months since the beginning of the war. So far everything was going just fine, but that only served to put me even more on edge. On top of that, today was the two millenia celebration of Marth's victory against Medeus. Today seemed like an apt choice for Validar's attack.

"_Relax, Kira. Yes, the attack will probably be today, but it'll be fine. We have a guard set up ready at Emmeryn's chambers, as well as vanguards for Chrom and Lissa, and various guard posts full of shepherds all around the castle. If anything comes we'll be ready. Now you just go and enjoy your holiday built around Naga's previous triumphs."_

You're probably right. We have Khrow and Robin guarding Chrom and Lissa is being guarded by Brutus and Lon'qu. Martin, Kellam, Dolce, and I are guarding Emmeryn. We also have Derek, Crimson, and Anna set up at the front of the castle, and the other shepherds prepared to rouse the soldiers in the barracks. I was the one who suggested the plan to Robin, so I know the layout better than anyone. Sadly, none of that helped to ease my nerves.

I saw Khrow walk nearby. "Khrow! What's up? I barely see you these days!"

"I was there giving the recruits gifts three days ago, I sparred with you last week, and I have been reporting for escort duty with Robin every day."

"And those are pretty much the only times you've left the dungeon recently. I'm honestly shocked you aren't as pale as a risen by now. Don't any of your tactics books tell you not to sleep with the enemy?"

"I was not sleeping with the enemy! I was interrogating her!"

"Yeah, 'interrogating' her. I guess that's what they call it these days."

Robin walked up, along with Emmeryn. "Brother! You're back! I was starting to think your girlfriend killed you!"

"Good to see you're back up with the living." Emmeryn said with a faint smile.

"Guys I came up here to have a good time and honestly I feel so attacked right now." Khrow said in a mock whimper.

I burst out laughing at this, and everyone gave me weird looks. "It's nothing, guys. It's nothing." I doubled over again from the laughter and they all began to worry. I stood back up "I'm okay guys." Then I began laughing for a third time. I finally recovered. "Okay, I'm fine now. Khrow was the last person I expected to say something like that."

"Okay…" Robin said, trying to comprehend why I found that so hilarious.

"Oh, that was a popular saying people used in jokes back home." I waved her off.

Emmeryn walked up to me "Hello Kira, would you be fine if I introduced you to a friend of mine?"

"Sure."

I walked along with her, being guided over to … Libra? I wonder why she wanted me to speak to him.

Libra was speaking to Dolce. I wasn't sure whether to be surprised they knew each other. The two both often went around helping the less fortunate, but the city was large enough that it was unlikely for them to run into each other in the slums. Well, I did often run into other shepherds in the streets so I guess it made sense.

"Kira, I'd like you to meet-" Emmeryn began.

"Why hello Kira, pleasure meeting you here. I apologize for the interruption, lady exalt." Libra said.

"Hey Libra, it's nice to see you outside of the infirmary for once." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Emmeryn asked.

"How did that happen?" Dolce added in.

"Well, between Brutus' training, Frederick's fitness hour, and my sparring matches, I get injured pretty often."

"So I've gotten some pretty good practice with my staff because of him." That was an understatement, the guy must have gained a staff level just from me.

"Well, I brought you here because Libra is also interested in your idea." Emmeryn said.

"Wait, he wants to help re-engineer light magic?" I asked, incredulous. This was a great chance, I needed to know the stylistic similarities for at least two promoted staff users. Base class users wouldn't work because they differences would be too small to separate from the similarities. Falcon knights also didn't work for the same reason, as they don't learn to use a staff until they promote.

I asked Libra every question I could think of, fervently taking notes. I walked back towards Emmeryn, satisfied. With my notes on healing and anima magic, all I needed was a dark mage user to interview and I would have a proper foundation for my research.

"Did you get what you needed?" Emmeryn asked me.

"Yes, I'm on the right track. A little more and I'll be able to actually begin my studies."

"That's good to know, let's go enjoy the festivities, shall we?" The music began to shift, becoming a waltz.

I felt heat rising to my cheeks as I held out my hand. "May I have this dance, Emmeryn?"

Emmeryn smiled and took my hand "Gladly."

XXXXXXX

_Aquila pov_

We were marching toward Ylisstol, preparing for the attack.

"Okay, we're almost ready to charge in." Validar began "There is one last thing we need to do. Thief, do you remember your part of the plan?"

The thief, Gaius if I remembered correctly, began counting things off. "Yeah, gray. First, I go with little miss doomsday," That was his nickname for Koto. " And I go up through the middle of the castle. Then I take a right and meet up with mister 'Does the carpet match the drapes'," He pointed at me. "Who'll cover for me while I pick the lock and kill Emmeryn."

"Yes, it seems you have something on your mind other than candy. You may prove to be competent yet." Validar continued.

"That's one more thing we need to talk about. You freed me from prison and all, don't get me wrong here I'm grateful, but you didn't give me any candy. You should know my fee after all the research you did when choosing me for the job. Besides that,you call me sugar for brains but you're the one with the awful plan here. They have a castle full of soldiers and what did you bring? Our group is made up of five soldiers and a thief, and you won't even let them summon 's about as smart as trying to steal a sword from a myrmidon." Gaius ranted.

"Don't worry," I said calmly "that's too much firepower in my opinion." I smirked. "This is going to be a wonderful mission. I'll get to meet the shepherds again."

**XXXXXXXXX**

**Well, we got the deuteragonists introduced. They don't have an extreme impact on the story, but they'll appear occasionally. One of them even has a backstory in the other timeline. Next chapter, we'll finally get some progression on the main plot. This is the chapter I've been excited for since before I even got to Ferox!**

**See you all next time! Please leave a review.**


	11. Invasion

**Review answer corner:**

**X-ray 99: For the description of the weapons, they all look like the in-game non-forged weapons, with the exception of Agrona's sword that makes it look like she's wielding a bone.**

**Ace: I can't call it the Titanic 'cause this ship ain't sinking! Also I don't have a set path for the deuteragonists yet, s I may go snk on them, although part of the reason they are there is to make up for other plot twists. (My army of Kurohas). **

**Pyrojack: Nope, none of those lemons. THe combustible lemons from Portal 2, however, might become a thing.**

**Bunri: Look at Aquila's original description. If you don't get it, I won't ruin your innocence by explaining it. Yeah, I didn't realize how much more mellow I made him until after the fact. There is also a little detail that he will mention in this chapter.**

**Cormag: Yang's a little iffy for me. She has the best personality of the group and an awesome weapon, but she has very little backstory. I wouldn't mind this if it wasn't for the fact that she is the main character's sister and she has a different last name, so she might be adopted or a half sibling, but Monty never touches on it. I have more questions than answers with her, I don't like that very much since this isn't Kagepro or Homestuck which are inherently confusing. It's a show that is usually rather straightforward but tiptoes around that particular subject.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the awesomeness that is nintendo.**

**XXXXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

I was awoken by Martin's shouts. "Kira! Dolce! We've got trouble!" He cracked the door open slightly, and I shadow traveled to the other side. Dolce followed behind and Martin slammed the door shut.

I looked towards the end of the hallway to see a figure coming around the corner. When the figure turned, I was faced with Aquila.

I charged, channeling a wilderwind down my blade. With the assistance of devil speed, I managed to land a small gash on his chest and get out before he had time to retaliate.

I saw Dolce take the opening to get by us and head down the east wing of the hallway, Where Brutus, Lon'qu, and Lissa were stationed. It would weaken our own force for the moment, but reinforcements were more important at the moment. The quicker they could eliminate the other adversaries, the better our chances of surviving the night.

We had done calculations on the strength of the door, and assuming that we recruited Gaius, it would take three of their number to break through. This was with the exception of Conner's trump, which would count for at least one of their number, if not more. Therefore, if we could take out at least three of their number and force Conner to use his trump, we would be able to save Emmeryn.

In addition to that, we were able to hold off one adversary with only the risk of one casualty between Martin, Kellam and I. Martin's trump had gotten so much time to build up that his defences rivaled Aquila, as he had opted to stay at the door rather than attend the festivities. In addition to that, he said that 'The one with the rapier is off-limits' last time we fought. We just had to hope he didn't take note of Kellam.

I charged at Aquila. I just have to hold out long enough for reinforcements.

XXXXXX

_Chrom_

"Be on your guard, Chrom." The warrior who called himself Marth told me.

"And why is that?" I asked.

"Because tonight there will be an attempt on the exalt's life. You will be able to fend it off, but unless you take care many of your soldiers will lose their lives. Tonight will be known as the massacre of Ylisse." Marth said as if he already knew of all that was to come.

"That is absolutely preposterous!" Came Frederick's voice from beside me.

"You will be among the fallen." Marth stated in a sullen tone.

"And where exactly is your proof?" Frederick asked with a sneer.

Marth simply pointed upward with his falchion. I saw the flapping wings of a gryphon. A gryphon that was coming in fast.

"Frederick, get away from here! Find someplace safe!" I yelled at him.

The gryphon came closer, and I could now make out the rider's appearance. It seemed to be a woman with messy black hair that was dyed white at the bangs. Her eyes were heavily shadowed and she bore a mad grin. The feathers of her armor were replaced with a short cape, along with the addition of a tailcoat.

"But milord-"

"Fredrick, you need to run!" I countered before the words could leave his mouth.

He started heading towards the door, but he wasn't moving fast enough.

"Frederick, Chrom, I'll make sure you two will be together forever!" The woman cackled as she dove towards Frederick, raising her sword upward. Wait, why is she wielding a broadsword?

I threw myself into the blades path, using falchion to block the blow. I was joined by Marth and we deflected the blade together. As the woman's blade was deflected, the tip knocked of his, or rather her, mask.

"Wait, you're a woman?" I asked incredulous.

"Yes, I'm surprised I managed to hide it, honestly"

"How the hell did she hide-" Khrow was cut off.

"I'm pretty sure that we have more pressing matters to address." Robin interjected.

"You kept me from doing those two a service! For that, I'll make you disappear!" The woman dove towards Marth, only to be stopped as a tomahawk flew at her. The woman ducked back and knocked the axe away with her massive sword.

Aelia grabbed her tomahawk before it fell. "So what's your name?"

The woman was caught off guard for a second before replying "My name is **Jamie**, why?"

"I'd like to at least know my victim's name before I bash her face in." Aelia said with a smirk.

We all rushed, fighting desperately to defeat the woman. In addition to her immense strength and defences, she had no issues with flying out of the way of our attacks. Even Robin's magic could barely reach a target that high.

Suddenly, Arrows started to fly at the woman. I looked up to see two archers holding longbows. The woman was forced to try to avoid the arrows, unable to fly out of the longbows' reach.

One of the archers, a man in a mottled cloak, twirled an arrow before quickly drawing and launching. "Why don't you just disappear already?" He yelled as the arrow stuck the gryphon's wing.

"Ugh, that's no fair." Jaimie said in a rather childish manner. "I guess I have to leave, but don't expect things to be so easy next time!" And with that she disappeared in a pillar of blue light.

XXXXXXXXXX

_Crimson pov_

I was walking down the halls when I was suddenly faced with a Plegian thief. Before he could get by I dashed towards him and pointed my dagger at his throat.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"Look," The redheaded thief said as he broke away from my blade "I have to do this. It's not the first time I've had to kill before, but I'm not exactly fond of killing a lady like the exalt. Nevertheless, my only choices are to kill her and become a free man or stay my hand and let my client take my life. So I'll fight my way through, whether you try to stop me or n-" He paused and raised his nose in the air, sniffing around. "Yes, candy!" Before I could react, the thief reached quickly into my hidden pocket and grabbed a box of my favorite candy.

I pulled my knives back out "Why you little-"

"Hey, how about this; you let me take the candy and I'll help you take these guys down. If their lockpick is on the other side, it'll take a lot more firepower for them to break through."

Ugh, this is a hard choice! The candy or the exalt, the candy or the exalt. "Fine, I'll take your offer."

Anna and Derek walked up from behind me. "I'm amazed that you actually let him have the candy, Crimson Usually I can't even buy the stuff from you." Anna said with a giggle

"She let someone have her sweets, the world must be ending!" Derek laughed along with her.

" Oh look, the little couple's here." I deadpanned.

"We aren't together!" They both said in unison.

"Yet." The thief said in response.

"Oh look who decided to switch sides, I'm so shocked." I turned around to see a young girl holding a ball of fire in her hand.

"You know what we do to traitors, Gaius." She lobbed the fireball straight at the thief who barely managed to dodge. Smoke billowed from his coat.

Agrona came around the corner "Hey guys, use the gemini formation!"

"What the hell is gemini formation?" Gaius asked, looking straight at me.

"Just follow me, you'll get the gist of it."

We attacked in a quick succession, hoping to outspeed and over power her. Derek was able to throw her off with his unorthodox fighting style. In addition to his trump, he had learned two new skills. One was hunter, which allowed him to sacrifice some of his defences in exchange for physical strength. The other was Ace of Spades, which increased the precision of his strikes in exchange for a large chunk of his vitality. I had learned a skill called Queen of Hearts, which allowed me to double the boosts given to me by allies. What did Kira call that boost again? Oh, right, support. Anna also had no problem avoiding attacks, since she was a promoted unit and all. The only person who had any particular trouble was Gaius, who had neither Anna's experience nor any skills that would give him an advantage.

Despite this, all of our attempts were proving to be fruitless. In fact, her wounds seemed to be healing faster than we could make them.

"_That's a rather interesting trump she has there."_

The woman, Koto, held out her hand making a particularly powerful looking fireball and tossed it towards Agrona. "I honestly feel bad about killing you all, as I can tell that many of you have already had to deal with great suffering, such as the thief and the rogue, but I have a task that I must complete."

As the fireball was launched towards Agrona, a figure whipped out of the shadows. Suddenly a mercenary, Severa if I remember correctly, was standing amidst the embers of the flames.

"_What? That was a valflame! How is she just standing there as if it was a basic spell? I mean Koto can't use its full power, since she doesn't have any holy blood, but still!"_

Severa gripped her sword's handle and blood started leaking from her hand as she charged. She swung her familiar-looking sword at Koto.

Koto tried to dodge the attack, but she couldn't get her arm out of the way before it was dismembered.

The bloody stub quickly healed, regrowing a new limb as if no damage had ever been inflicted.

She raised her hand to conjure another ball of flame before doubling over. "Agh!" She screeched in pain. "I can't proceed any further, I guess I'll retreat for now." And she disappeared in a blue light.

XXXXXXX

_Brutus pov_

We had been locked in combat with Conner for at least a few minutes already. With the help of Kyouko and Marcus, along with Lissa's healing support, Lon'qu and I were having no issue staying alive against him. However, we had only managed a few minor wounds so far and we hadn't forced him into his trump yet. Luckily, Cassius was coming around the bend with reinforcements.

Suddenly, Conner transformed into a giant rabbit and lunged towards Marcus. A figure came out of nowhere to stop him.

I saw the young taguel we saw at Ferox holding Conner back with chains wrapped around his massive teeth. The taguel yanked on the chains, pulling Conner's head back as he aimed a kick towards his neck. Conner was sent sprawling to the ground, shifting back to human form. Just as Conner was standing back up, the young taguel unsheathed his blades and unleashed a vicious astra. He landed three small gashes as well as two large ones along Conner's shoulders.

Conner let out a primal roar as his form shifted along with his trump. He lifted his blade to attack the younger taguel in front of him. I heard a loud clank of metal as Dolce appeared, her own trump activated, to block the strike.

Dolce's legs buckled a little as she struggled to hold back the force of the attack. A blur of yellow flashed by as an axe flew towards Conner, forcing him to leap out of the way.

We all charged into the fray with renewed valor. With Dolce and Libra, along with Cassius' reinforcements, we had no problem keeping Conner distracted. None of us would stand a chance against him alone, hell he probably wouldn't have much trouble taking on three or four of us. However with all of us our numbers simply overwhelmed him. It also helped that we had Libra, one of the only four promoted units in all of Ylisse, Dolce, a manakete with greater physical strength than most humans, and I was wielding a holy weapon. The fact that he was holding his own was a testament to his sheer strength.

I used my trump in an attempt to take to man out, but he blocked the attack with his blade. The force launched him into a wall but certainly didn't kill him. His trump faded as I felt the searing pain my trump caused me.

"Damn, look's like my trump's run out. I'm not stupid enough to take you all on like this." Conner disappeared in a flash of blue light.

"Let's move out to the rest of the castle." Cassius said, barely winded from the previous trial.

"Well, I need to heal Brutus, you guys go on ahead." Lissa said, and the others headed off in the direction of Emmeryn's chamber.

"How are you doing Brutus?" Lissa asked me with a concerned look.

"What do you mean?" I was honestly quite confused by this.

"I know how you feel about me. I'm sorry I couldn't return those feelings, it's just that you're like family to me."

"As long as you are happy, I'm fine with it."

"Okay. By the way, Lon'qu said he wants you to be one of the groomsmen at the wedding. He knows that he wants you and Kira to be there, but he still isn't sure about who'll be best man." She finished healing my wounds.

"That sounds fine, we can talk about the details when we aren't in the middle of a crisis." We both ran to join the others.

XXXXXXX

_Soren pov_

I stood in front of my grandfather, ready to clash with each other. I held out Clarent, lighting it with a bolganone. He held out his hand, with the dark mist of Grima's truth floating around it.

He launched the pillars of darkness at me, forcing me to quickly dash out of the way.

I responded in kind with a wall of blue flame.

This cycle repeated for a while, only starting to break as Validar's older age began to wear on him. "You're quite a skilled warrior, although I would like to ask who you think you are to fight against the forces of Grima."

"I'll tell you," I used the opening to shadow travel behind him and cleave through his back. "I'm his son!" I sheathed my blade and ran out of the castle grounds before Lucina and the others could have a chance to corner me. My job was done for the moment.

I was out of the city and headed for the woods when I felt a rope close around my foot. I felt myself rising rapidly up to be suspended in the air.

"And this, Christian, is what a dumbass looks like in his natural habitat." I heard a familiar voice from below me.

"Shut the hell up Geralt! I was in a hurry you know!"

"Yeah, I know." Geralt replied as he cut me down. "Laurent told me you left the group, and asked me to go and help with whatever your stupid plan is."

"Wow, that's rather nice of him." Geralt smacked me upside the head.

"He also asked me to do that for him."

I looked over towards Christian. "I see you have a woman traveling with you. Good job, I didn't think you had it in you!"

Christian was the first to respond "It's not like that! I was just scared to be alone, is all."

Oh right, a bunch of pricks had captured her when we all found her. I shuddered at the thought.

"Okay, for now we will simply cut off a little bit of the enemy force. After that, we'll train until right before Valm, and we'll prepare to kill Grima's host before the possession can take place."

"Are you sure you want to kill him without trying to save him? How do you even know who the host will be?"

"I don't think there is any way to save the host, Grima came back with us, and he'll make sure he gets his way this time. However, if we take out the host, there won't be a chance for Grima to gain his power back, so we'll have less than half the number of risen and one less major threat. As for how I know who the host is," I took off my glove, letting the pair see the mark of Grima on my hand "There are two, my father and my aunt."

"I'll join you, but if you can't handle the pressure, then we'll abort the mission. I can't force you to kill your own family, I can't even imagine what kind of stress it would put on someone." Geralt replied.

"Why are you being so nice to me? I'm the son of the creature that killed your family, for the love of Naga!"

"Look," Geralt took off his own glove, showing a tattoo of a withered rose. It was the mark of the special forces in his home country. "One little mark doesn't mean shit. You fight side by side with us, so you're just as much a servant of Naga as any of us. Hell, with how close you are to the exalt's family, you might as well be one of Marth's descendants."

"Thanks, I needed that."

"I just realized something," Christian began "We're gonna need a lot of food."

"What are you talking about? There are only three of us!" Geralt said with a confused look

"She's right, we've got two dragonkin on board so we might as well be feeding an entire company." I said to him. It was the truth, even living in the castle I had trouble getting enough food. "Hope you've got plenty of gold in your wallet, Geralt."

"Why the hell do I have to pay for everything?" He asked, incredulous.

"You're the only one with any money." Christian deadpanned at him.

XXXXXX

_Kira pov_

I had been fighting Aquila for well over ten minutes, with no real luck. Even with the guy holding back so that he didn't kill me, he had no problem just lazily blocking the attacks. Even with my high crit rate, my strikes weren't doing all that much. I had done decent damage, but nothing permanent.

I launched a blast of wind towards the rafters, bringing large chunks of wood and metal tumbling down on him. When he emerged from the wreckage he was covered in small gashes.

"That's it." He said as he lunged forward and grabbed me by the neck. "I can't kill you or cause permanent damage, but knocking you out is completely within my limitations." He tightened his grip on my neck, pulling harder and harder every second. My vision starting to grow blurry when two lightning imbued javelins flying into him. The damage wasn't much but it startled him enough to make him lose his grip on me.

I fell to the ground and saw Emmeryn standing in front of the door.

"It looks like my target's just laying herself in front of me. I didn't think the mission would be that simple." He began to walk towards Emmeryn.

I reached out feebly,trying to grab onto his foot to stop him. I couldn't even manage to reach him. I've never felt as helpless as I did that moment.

Suddenly, I saw a figure rush towards Aquila. There was a large flash of lightning as he was blasted into the wall.

I saw Robin holding her bolting tome over Aquila, who had a hole in his chest, exposing the bone. He survived that thing from point blank? That thing can kill enemies from two hundred meters away and he took it from two inches!

Reinforcements came out from every corner, surrounding the hallway.

"Damn, there's too many of them. I guess I'll have to leave." And with that Aquila vanished.

XXXXXXX

The group had all cleared out and I was being healed by Emmeryn.

During the invasion, Aversa broke out of her cell, but other than that there were no other casualties. I had talked to the future child who referred to herself as 'Mikasa' and she told me that in the other timeline more than fifty men would have been killed by the group. Among these would have been Cassius, as well as all the recruits other than Kyouko. On that note, Cassius had become a captain and the recruits were now soldiers in his squad.

She finished healing me. "All done, I'm glad you are ok."

"Don't worry me again."

"Pardon?"

"I said don't worry me like that again!" I said, wrapping my arms around her. "You just walked out of your room as if it were a normal day. What if you had been killed? Everything we lost-"

"There were no casualties."

"If there had been, they would have all been for nothing! Besides, what would Chrom and LIssa do if you were gone? What would I do if I lost you?"

"Don't worry, I don't plan on leaving anytime soon. I won't do anything stupid-" I glared at her "Again."

"Good, I'll hold you to that."

"You can let go now, you know."

"But it's comfortable." I complained.

"Fine, you can stay like this." She sighed "What am I going to do with you?"

"I'm sure you'll find something." I said in a relaxed tone. Emmeryn laughed in response.

XXXXXX

_Aquila pov_

Validar walked through the door, along with lord Grima, who took her female form.

Grima spoke in a voice that bellowed through the chambers. "It's time to start making our plans. First order of business; Koto, you will be headed to Valm to weaken the resistance. However, you must leave enough for the shepherds to survive the war. Next let's talk about Plegia." And thus began our plans to take the world by storm.

**XXXXXXX**

**Well, that went better than expected and worse than expected at the same time. Early on, I realized that if I wrote as much as I wanted for the fights this chapter would drag along, and I try to stay a little over 3000 words to keep it manageable. Due to this, I didn't quite get the effect I hoped for. Jamie was made by Red Server. I apologize that her intro was rather short. I'll try to fit her in more when I have the space, and hopefully with a better grasp of her character than I have at the moment.**


	12. The winding path

**Well, I'm back with a new chapter after freaking ages! Sadly, I'll be going on a mission trip soon so I can't guarantee another chapter soon. will try to get another to you all but it's sorta touch-and-go for the moment.**

**Review answers:**

**Cormag: They hopefully will. One does not simply 'handle' Crimson. Yeah, there are more OCs but… We have the main villains all set up now woo! *Confetti falls everywhere***

**Bunri: Yep, that's her. Also, yay shipping!**

**Pyrojack: Future child, but not born in Ylisse.**

**Now, this chapter… there are some parts I loved and some were iffy. Either way, it's pretty good considering it was all done today.**

**Disclaimer: Of course I don't on Fire Emblem, do I look like I've been rolling around in the sales profit from Awakening?**

**XXXXXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

We had been walking up the same damned mountain pass for hours on end. I was in the back, unable to take the heat. The climb itself would have been no issue whatsoever if it was at a decent temperature. However, I can barely take anything over 85 degrees, and it was easily over 100 at nearly every part of Plegia. Beside me were Lissa, who was unused to major exercise, being a healer rather than a soldier, and Khrow, who had been mulling over something in his head for the entire trip. The man was almost completely silent, and had barely spoken since the attempt on Emmeryn's life.

I couldn't handle the look on his face any more. "It's about Aversa, isn't it? You're worried about her, aren't you?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper so that Khrow would be the only one to hear.

"It's more than that." Khrow's voice had taken a dead tone, as if he couldn't bring himself to accept his current situation.

"What do you mean by that?" He was worried about Aversa's survival, wasn't he? What more could there be, considering it was unknown whether Aversa would even be welcomed back among the grimleal?

"I had wanted more for her." Tears began to form in his eyes. "I was going to ask Chrom to free her in a few days. I was going to try to give her a new life among us. I knew she didn't care for us the way she did for her old life, but I wanted her to be happy here. I even bought her a ring." His fist slammed against the wall of rock next to him. "I guess I wasn't good enough, huh?"

"She'll come back, I'm sure of it. It may not be today, hell it might be years from now, but she'll come back."

"Yeah right, she probably broke out because she couldn't stand being around me."

I slapped him "You love her right?" Khrow nodded weakly at this. "Then for the love of Naga don't give up on her!" It took a massive amount of effort to not yell at him and inadvertently let the entire group know about his problems. "You stand up, pick up your sword, and fight your ass off every day until you get the chance to see her again! You still don't know what her answer will be, so make sure you live long enough to find out!"

"You're right." Khrow perked up at this. "I can't give up on her just yet. I have to do the one thing I know and fight for the chance to see her once more."

"So do you think you're ready for this war?" I held my hand out to him.

"I'll make those Plegians wish they never recovered from the last one" He grabbed my hand and shook it. "One thing though; please don't tell the others about this conversation. I don't want to worry them. There's also the fact that Frederick doesn't trust me yet, no matter how much he trusts my twin. I don't want to give him a reason to try to cut me down, because we both know he doesn't care about the fact that he's not supposed to fight anymore."

"You've got it." I laughed at his last statement.

**XXXXXX**

_Derek pov_

We came to a pass in the mountains. The path was very narrow for a large force, but it was the only way up the mountain. It was also the perfect spot for an enemy ambush, if the squadron of wyvern riders was any indication.

"_Oh look, there goes the hierarch's head. What will we do without his wise advice. He surely would never have betrayed us or anything awful like that."_

Oh, come off it Kirito. It's not like Chrom could have done anything about it.

"_Yes he could, he could have not trusted everyone with a sob story. I don't blame Frederick for being so wary."_

If Chrom wasn't like that we wouldn't be in the shepherds, now would we?

_Good point. So, hunter or Ace of Spades? We already used our trump._

I pulled out my killing edge. Let's go with Ace of Spades, because who needs strength or health when you can go overkill on the crit rate?

I felt a surge of energy along with pain as I lost a portion health in exchange for a 35% boost to my critical rate. I slashed upward, cutting straight through a wyvern rider. There truly is no kill like overkill.

"You've become much stronger, Derek." I heard Anna's voice from behind me, accompanied by a loud thud. I turned and saw her standing over the corpse of a barbarian that nearly took me from behind. "But you really need to pay more attention. If you die my profit margins will go down and I really don't want that."

"Yeah, you need your precious salesman slave, huh?"

"I prefer to call it involuntary volunteer work. It's not like you complained about being dragged there. Besides, you still need to pay me back for that sword I gave you."

"You handed it to me in the middle of battle! I thought it was a kind gesture not a product from your shop! How the hell haven't I paid off the price of one blade yet any way?"

"Well, for one, I just saved you. That's an extra 10,000 gold."

A wyvern rider flew up behind her. I pushed her out of the way and sliced through the wyvern's wing. The rider fell of the mount and rolled off the edge of the cliff.

"How much am I down to?" I asked.

"Well, you might actually get the chance to retire if you keep that up, but it'll still be a couple hundred grand."

"You just want me to stay in your debt so you can keep seeing my pretty face don't you?" I teased.

I saw a cluster of knives flying by me. Sparks erupted from the tips that struck their targets, frying a few. Apparently, since Crimson used a purely offensive knife style, she got all kinds of awesome knives that worked as their levin, brave, and killing variants. she was the only one of our number able to do that.

"Hey! You too need to quit flirtin' and get movin'!" Crimson yelled before turning towards Gaius. "That's ten for me, how many have you gotten, thief?"

"Dammit, I've only gotten five!" He turned to us "Seriously, you need to pick it up here. Super Swordsman junior and the rookie squad are down there kicking ass left and right. We will not let them show us up!"

"Hey thief! If you can somehow manage to beat me, I'll give you something sweet as a reward!" Crimson said in a teasing tone as she winked. I couldn't tell whether she was flirting with him or talking about candy. I don't think Gaius cares, he's probably excited either way.

Anna and I ran up, meeting Robin, who was fighting a rather large number of enemy soldiers. We joined in the fray, taking out as many enemies as we could.

The numbers were growing smaller and smaller with every passing second. "Let's bring down the thunder!" Robin yelled as she pulled out her thoron and unleashed a massive arc of thunder that fried the remaining enemies. After the spell, the book began to turn to ash. She tossed the book aside as it vanished. "Oh well, I can only use those things so many times," She said as she unsheathed a blade. "That's why I carry my levin sword!"

I saw Cordelia making her way towards us, followed by three wyvern riders. There was no worse position she could be in at the moment. Robin ran forward and swung her sword. Lightning crackled along the blade and flung outward, arcing out to strike the wyverns. The static barely touched the wyverns, but with their poor resistance it was enough to make them throw their riders off. After they recovered, the wyverns flew down to catch the riders but couldn't catch up in time.

"I feel sorry for the poor wyverns, but the soldiers had to go." Robin said with a sad look.

Cordelia began to reach the group, only for an archer to fire at her.

"Don't my my friend you drek!" Brutus yelled as he deflected the arrow with Gae bolg.

Cordelia rushed forward, snapping the bow and clipping the archer's shoulder. Brutus followed up, throwing his spear into the archer's chest and yanking it right back out with a flick of his wrist.

"Wait, if you're here, then the border patrol has-" Cordelia cut Brutus off.

"We have no time for that, we're in the middle of a battle!"

"Well, we have some breathing room for now." Anna said. We looked around at saw that with the exception of a few wyverns that would be here in a minute or so, commander Vasto was the only troop left.

I saw Vasto lift up his steel axe towards Khrow, who was wielding no more than a bronze sword. As the axe came down, Khrow made a swift slash with his blade that severed the axe head from the handle.

Vasto simply stared at the handle in stunned astonishment. "I don't know what you were expecting, I am no ordinary swordsman" Khrow said as he raised his blade again.

"Wait!" Kira yelled as he appeared, making Khrow pause. "I have better plans for him." He raised his hand up, launching a missile of dark magic up in the air.

Seeing that the magic had gone over his head, Vasto lifted a new axe without noticing the ominous rumbling sound.

Kira simply smirked as Vasto charged at Kira. A massive cloud of sediment came falling from the section of the mountain Kira had struck. The sediment covered Vasto, encasing him.

"He wanted a statue of him in the capitol, now he is a statue." Kira mumbled. "All mages that are adept with the fire branch come forth! I now call a cease-fire!" He yelled, Khrow, Robin, and Chrom joined in.

"It is an honor to die for our country, we must press forward!"One of the myrmidons yelled. The other soldier cheered him on.

"There's a difference between dying for your country and being slaughtered for your country. There are only like, fifteen of you left. We have more shepherds than that, not to mention that we have at least fifty other soldiers. Fighting you guys during an ambush is self defense but at this point killing any more of you guys is pointless. Maybe if we were trying to make sure the rest of you guys didn't find out our location it would make sense but it's pretty damn obvious you guys all know where we are. Now drop you blades and tell us what you want us to inscribe so you at least have something to take back!" Kira ranted.

The myrmidon shrugged "Why the hell not?" he sheathed the blade and walked up to kira and the mages. The others followed to ensure that the inscription was to everyone's liking.

**XXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

We spent the next few hours talking about the inscriptions for the statue. "You know," The myrmidon began "While in some perceptions this can be considered cruel, I think that the good commander would be happy with this. One of his worst fears was that he would be forgotten after his death, and it's pretty hard to forget someone with a grave like this. I guess we'll take our leave."

"Maybe after the war we'll all be able to live in peace with each other." I responded.

"As a Plegian, I feel it is my duty to oppose you in this war, but I certainly wouldn't mind living in your country's ideal world."

"Wait!" Emmeryn yelled. "I'll come with you."

"Please reconsider, Emm." I said, my voice quivering.

Emmeryn shook her head "I've already talked it over with Chrom and Lissa. To end the bloodshed, it must be done."

"Could you please promise me one thing?"

"What would that be, Kira?"

"Please promise me you'll do all you can to bring yourself back home to Ylisstol, because I won't be able to call that place home if you aren't there, and I will stop at nothing to bring you back with us."

Tears began to form in Emmeryn's eyes. "I swear that before the month's end, we'll both be walking along the city streets together as we did only a few days ago. Now please, let me leave now because the longer I'm with you all, the more I wish to stay."

"If it's any consolation, I will make sure our troops give Lady Emmeryn the best treatment within our power."

"Thank you, It doesn't really make this any easier, but It's the thought that counts."

And with that the troop left, along with the person we had fought to protect.

Khrow walked up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "We'll get her back, Kira. Remember what you told me earlier?"

"You're right, Khrow. Gangrel need not fear Hell, for we'll bring it right to his door!"

"That's the spirit, Kira." Khrow responded.

Cordelia walked up, tears in her eyes. "If the exalt is going with them peacefully, then did my squad die for nothing."

Brutus pulled her into his arms to comfort her. "It's not quite that simple."

"They died for the peace of our nation. If you keep them in your memories, then they'll never leave you." I told her.

"How am I just supposed to be fine with that? Do you understand what I just went through?"

"I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation, Cordelia. You aren't the only one hurting here! Chrom and Lissa just watched their older sister, the one who practically raised her walk away. As soldiers, death is merely a job risk, but if we let anything happen to the exalt then we will have failed our mission. Your comrades deaths weren't for nothing yet. If you let your own doubts cloud your mind and we fail your mission, then they will lose all meaning."

"What the hell do you kn-"

"Don't." Panne cut her off. "Do you not see the look in his eyes? That is one that I have not seen since the other taguel died. I also saw it in lord Chrom's eyes earlier, until today I didn't know humans were even capable of the look. It's the look of a caged animal struggling to break free, and the few times I've seen it were some of the most terrifying experiences of my life."

Cordelia's eyes widened at this "Wait, for him to be that enraged, you really care for her, huh, Kira?"

Chrom placed his hand on my shoulder "I was expecting to be calling him 'brother' in less than a year. If have any say in it, that will still happen." Chrom held out his fist. "From this day forth, our goal is to save Emmeryn. I know she wants to spare the world from bloodshed, but we won't be able to avoid it and save her at the same time. So, we must fight as little as possible and still get to her. I swear One day we will be able to fulfil Emm's dream. Who's with me?"

We all put our fists into the circle, making a silent vow to each other. I looked at Chrom "So, 'brother', it looks like we're all set huh?"

"Now I want at least a few months to prepare before you start calling me that!" Chrom chuckled.

"How did you know anyway?"

"It was obvious to everyone but Emm, if you two weren't so oblvious you would have noticed all the talk behind your back."

"Hmm, good to know the other nobles know who I am. That makes it easier to speak to the court members."

"Yeah, but not all the talk is good?"

"When is it good for everyone? Naga could come to visit Ylisstol and there would still be people bitching about it." Chrom burst out laughing. I looked over towards Cordelia.

"Hey, I'm sorry for going off on you earlier."

"Don't worry about it, I understand." Cordelia responded forgivingly.

"But I said such awful things-"

Cordelia cut me off " would have too in your position. We all slip up sometimes, it's nothing to worry about. In fact, you helped me out in a way."

"Huh?" That was certainly not the response I expected.

"You were right, even if you had the wording way off. Feeling sorry for myself won't bring my squad back, but more people could die if I spend so much time dwelling on it that I become a hindrance. My squad gave their lives for me, so the least I can do is use mine to save others. Don't feel bad about what you did, you were just venting your anger. Just keep in mind that we can still save her."

Don't worry about that Cordelia, I thought to myself. I have a plan ready to save her. The only thing way she'll die is if I screw up. I just have to hope I can carry my plan out properly and I don't run everything with it.

**XXXXXXX**

_Soren pov_

"Hey, can you guys lead me through this forest?" I asked Geralt and Christian.

"Why do you need us to lead you?" They both asked with confused voices.

"Oh, right. You guys can't read magic the way I do. There are wards here to throw off the directional senses of anyone whose body carries dark energy. Since I'm half earth dragon, that's a pretty damn big part of my body. I may very well have trouble walking simply by standing near those ley lines. They increase light magic and dampen dark magic, making the place a very unsuitable environment."

"Then why are we even coming this way?" Christian asked.

"I can only think of one priest with the engineering talent to make this, and he will be a great help to us on our journey."

"Ok then, but don't blame us if you can't handle the place." Geralt replied.

We made our way through the forest until we reached a village. I could see, through my blurry vision, an old friend who was like a brother to me.

"Hey Julius!" I yelled to the bishop.

"Wait that's…" Julius turned around. "I'm amazed you're even able to stay conscious here."

"What do you- Wait! You know? How?" I sputtered out.

"Come on, Soren. You're forgetting I'm the second best strategist in the army, as well as the head magic engineer and arguably the best mage. We've lived together since we were babies. During a practice session my training light tome once knocked you unconcsious, that alone was a pretty major sign. There are also the details that you eat like a dragon and you occasionally subconsciously yell phrases in ancient Loptyrian and Plegian; two of the great earth dragon languages."

"How did you recognize the languages?" I asked him, unnerved.

"Because they sound like a twisted version of the divine dragons' tongue, which as a bishop descended from Naga, I am fluent in." Julius waved it off. "Now let's get back to the main deal. What are you here for? We may be close, but there's no way you'd make such a dangerous trip just to visit."

"I want to help cut down some of the resistance the shepherds will face."

"And how will we do that?" He said 'we', that's a good sign.

"We'll take down Mustafa's force, hopefully with no casualties on their side."

"Well I don't know about not killing any of them, but we can help take down Mustafa. Follow me." Julius lead us all into a large building, most likely a meeting room. We all followed,

ready to begin our mission.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**There, it was a little rushed, but I'm proud of it. While some of it was iffy, there are always iffy parts and the rest turned out rather well in my opinion. It's actually my favorite one so far.**


	13. Ylisse War Z

**Author's notes: Welp, I'm back from my mission trip, so I can finally write again. Sadly, school starts back next week for me so my update speed might drop again before long. I will try to update as much as possible but I'll probably get a massive amount of homework, especially from my English teacher.**

**On to the reviews!**

**Bunri: Yep, Khrow's actually getting some spotlight for once! I still haven't quite gotten a handle on evenly distributing character development yet, and who knows? I might not ever figure that one out, but I'll at least try my best at it.**

**Simetra: Yes, there were a ton of Smash quotes there. The entire week I had spent at camp I was waiting to write those because my Tumblr dash was filled with FE all week(As if there's not always a ton of FE on there)**

**Cormag: Well, I've already answered this, but yes: I will be throwing in as many legendary weapons into the 2nd gen as possible, as you will see in the early parts of this chapter. Also yes, Chrom is very observant, or at least when it comes to his sisters. My headcanon is that he spends so much time watching the gazes sent at his sisters that he doesn't notice the ones aimed at himself, hence why he never took note of Cordelia.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own FE, nor will I ever own it. **

**XXXXXXX**

_Soren pov_

After my conversation with Julius, we pulled everyone together for a meeting. None of us were opposed to the plan of action, so we left as soon as possible partially to catch up to Mustafa with haste and partially due to my aversion to the area's latent light magic. Julius had left the best of his current students to take over while he was gone.

We were now sitting around our campfire, resting for the night. Geralt was polishing his new blade, Mystletainn, which had been carried by a man who had claimed to be a descendant of Hezul. Geralt had asked if he could test the blade out for himself and, to our surprise, showed the capability of using the blade to its full potential. After this spectacle, the man entrusted the blade, as well as the fire tome Rexflame, which the man couldn't wield due to his lack of magic skill, to Geralt. When Geralt objected to taking such amazing gifts, the man had said that 'Your ability to wield the blade is proof that you are my relative, and I will do anything in my power to help out one of my kin.

As it turned out, each of us had some form of legendary weapon. Ciri had somehow gotten her hands on the great axe Hauteclere, Silver had Balmung, Syrenne had the sword of seals as well as Baselard- Each of the three weapons had been stolen by their father, two of which formerly being wielded by their ancestors-, Christian had the Ashera staff, Which she was only to use in very drastic situations- With Tiki's help, her father had taught her the style of Chon'sin's shrine maidens-, Julius had the book of Naga and another tome that I recognized to be Creiddylad. I myself had Clarent, which while not necessarily legendary, was the Grimleal equivalent to the exalted Falchion. As a whole, were pretty well prepared for any situation.

I looked a little to the left and saw Julius asleep with his head in Silver's lap, as the girl struggled to wake the bishop up.

"Wake up dammit! Do I look like a pillow to you?" The girl yelled in her feeble attempts to wake him up. Unfortunately for her, there were only a handful of ways to wake Julius up, and Silver knew of none of them.

"I know of a few ways to wake him up…" I drawled, planning to screw with her for a while.

"Tell me!" Silver bellowed.

"I don't know, I think he deserves his rest…"

"Not on me, dammit!"

"Oh come on, he's saved your ass countless times, you can at least let him have his sleep."

"No I can't- wait, when the hell has he ever saved my ass?" Silver asked incredulously.

"Well first off, there was your first mission for the kingdom after which you passed out on the castle floor." Julius had completely freaked out at the time, and I don't particularly blame him. At that time it had only been a few weeks since his father had sacrificed himself -As well as the 200 strongest soldiers in Ylisstol- to put Grima out of commision for a few years so that we would have enough time to make the time travel plan. In that battle, all 200 men had brought either a legendary or an anti-dragon weapon, and Grima hadn't even bothered to summon any risen, Despite the massive difference in numbers, they still only managed to put him out of commission for about six years. Grima had fully healed right before we traveled back.

"So I was a little wounded…"

"Silver, you were bleeding so badly that your hair was an even _darker_ shade of red than it normally is." I said with a deadpan.

"Well, it wasn't like he was the only healer the-"

Christian, who was the only one paying any attention to the conversation- Geralt was now checking all of his trap parts, and Ciri was telling Syrenne all about the childish roleplay group that she had made along with Cynthia and Owain- Cut her off.

"Actually, since assassins tend to have a unique muscular build that makes them harder to heal, Julius refused to let anyone else try to help for fear that they would accidently cause more damage. This even applied for us shepherds, who he trusted with almost every treatment. And since then, he always nagged the healers to check every small detail at least thrice."

"He was just making sure that his soldiers were fine, right?" Silver half stated, half- asked.

"There was also the time that Lucina was so pissed at you that she threatened to banish you from the castle, and he made you his champion to stop her." That was probably the most angry I had ever seen her at anyone, and the most terrified I have ever felt for another person.

"Why did no one ever tell me I was his champion?"

"You weren't really around for long enough periods of time to fully take up the mantle, so we never bothered to alert you."

"And why have none of you told me about any of this?" Silver was becoming extremely exasperated with the current situation.

"I honestly think that Julius would rather pretend that he had done nothing, since he doesn't really like taking credit for things, but I felt you needed to know." There were even a few battle plans everyone credited me with that were his ideas. He will take any compliments given to him, but will pass what he can onto others or simply ignore them, because he feels they could have been done by anyone. In his eyes, the only difference between one action and any other is the decisions made to get there. "And with that…"

I walked up to julius, created a small blue flame on my fingertip, and pressed it onto his cheek. Julius immediately sprung up.

"What in Marth's name was that for?" Julius bellowed while rubbing his cheek.

"There are better places to take a nap than on someone's lap, you know." I teased.

"Huh?" Julius looked at where he had been sitting before realizing what had happened. "I'm so sorry Silver, I know that must have been a nuisance for you. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" Julius' face had become a bright red that almost matched Silver's hair.

"I-it's okay, you don't have to do anything." Silver sputtered out, surprised by Julius' reaction.

I felt a mass of dark energy nearby.

"Guys, we have better things to worry about. There is a massive horde of risen that's only about five minutes away from where we are currently standing." I said.

Julius held Creiddylad in his hands "It would be best if we eliminated it rather than avoiding it. That way the horde won't be able to attack any villages or harm any wayward travelers."

"You're right, as much as I wish you weren't." Dammit, why does that bastard dragon's minions have to follow me everywhere?

XXXXXXXX

As we reached the horde one of the risen, seemingly the commander, walked up to us and spoke to me in a moaning voice "Hail! It's the fell prince! Oh great prince, we have a great place for you here in our future kingdom, so why must you fight against us?"

These damned undead… "Would joining your stupid kingdom bring back my parents? Would it bring back my aunt and uncle? Would it bring back those we all held dear? Would it bring back Chrom? No, all my 'birthright' would do is cause destruction!" I felt my body ignite with brighter flames than ever before.

"I see the exalted wench has clouded your mind." The commander said with a sad tone.

"No, Grima has clouded your minds!" The commander begin to lift his blade, and I dashed through, cutting him down before he could swing. "Lucina has cleared my own."

I looked towards the others "Let's go!" Geralt pressed a button on his sleeve , causing the stereos he had installed in it to begin playing music. I believe it was "Never Surrender" from the DMC soundtrack.

Julius lifted his hand, causing four orbs of divine energy to tear a small hole in the horde. We charged into the path it had created. Geralt launched a mass of lava at a patch of risen with his rexflame, before drawing mystletainn and cutting down a few more.

Silver and Syrenne charged towards another mass of pulled out the sword of seals, wrapping fire around the blade before launching it to take out a line of risen. Silver leapt into the remaining group and began slicing through them with Balmung.

She turned around to go back towards the group, not realizing that there was still one left standing. The risen lifted its blade as Syrenne charges toward it. She reaches the risen and sinks Baselard into its neck right before it can do its strike.

"Got your back, sis" Syrenne said with a bright smile.

"I don't need any help." Silver said with an arrogant tone.

"This sword says otherwise." Syrenne teases as Silver lets out a loud sigh.

Up in the air, Christian was raining fireballs down on the enemies with great vigor. Her scales were a deep navy blue while her wings were tinted white. The flames she spouted were an emerald green, just like her mother's. Ciri was riding her wyvern, dandelion I believe its name was, next to Christian as she batted away other flying units with hauteclere.

I used shadowtravel to quickly make my way to another section of the battlefield, hoping I could help clear everything out in multiple directions.

That seemed like a good plan of action, however, there was one major problem: the three great revenants towering over me.

Maybe if I can take them out quickly enough, I can make it through before I get crushed; I thought as I used my most powerful skill, ignis+. The skill allowed me to pour half of my magical power into all of my physical attacks, and vice versa. I didn't enjoy using the skill, because it was a more refined version of one of the talents granted by Grima's bloodline, but there were some cases in which one just had to ignore the details. Although my magical attacks were a little sub-par, it still could add some decent damage.  
I ran up the arm of one of the massive beasts, leaping as I reached its shoulders. With a swift blow to the neck, I managed to do enough damage to take the first one out.

I fell swiftly to the ground and rolled to limit the force of the landing. Sadly, from that height, there is no way for it to not hurt like a bitch. A massive arm slammed down towards me, and I rolled out of the way while launching a blast of flame at the arm. I didn't manage to sever it or anything, but I at least managed to leave some burns on it.

I leapt up towards the arm, sinking my blade into it. This time the arm was held straight down, so I had no choice but to climb.

As I made my way up to the base of the revenant's neck, I raised my blade in the hopes of landing a clean cut. Before I could swing my sword, I felt a large force push me as the other revenant batted my off. I could have sworn that I saw the revenant chuckling to itself as I fell back to the ground.

This time, I was unable to react in time to limit the force of the fall. I simply laid there, too injured to stand back up, as the two revenants prepared to finish me off.

Suddenly, I saw two figures jump onto the revenants' shoulders. I saw a beam of energy decapitate one, and a massive dark missile embedding itself in the others' neck.

As the giant monsters fell, I realized who the figures were.

There, both wearing tactician cloaks, were Mark and Morgan.

I never thought that I would see those two fighting against the risen. In our time, they both had been trained by Grima to become his two favorite generals. They had even taken on some of the dragon's more dangerous qualities, Mark with rightful god and Morgan with dragonskin. As if that wasn't enough the two each had their other parent's weapon, with Mark wielding Ragnell and Morgan wielding our mother's Goetia tome. I could take on either one alone, but not by much, and the two of them work well enough together that they practically double each other's power.

All that however, didn't matter very much at the moment. I was just glad to see them again.

"Are you able to stand?" Mark asked me while holding out a hand.

"Cousin, I'm sure that if he could, he would have actually, oh I don't know, tried to avoid the revenants' attacks" Morgan said with a sneer.

"Mark, Morgan, excuse me for asking, but why are you here and why haven't you tried to kill me yet?"

"Why would we be trying to hurt anyone?" Morgan asked incredulously.

"Morgan, I think this man may know something of us."

"Well, he does look a little familiar." Morgan replied, caught up in her own thoughts.

"Wait you guys don't remember anything? I mean, I'd understand you not knowing who I am because Grima took you at such an early age, but…" What is going on here?

"Who's Grima?" Morgan seemed extremely confused.

Mark was the one to respond "I think he means the thing that possessed our parents, the one from my memories."

"I still can't believe that nonsense you've been spouting out, Mark! Our parents were too kind to fit that description!"

"I think that the creature may have let our parents free occasionally, as a form of mercy." Mark stated.

"So you each seem to have half the truth." I cut in.

"What could you possibly mean?" Morgan questioned.

"Morgan, I am your older brother. Our father and Mark's mother were the vessels of Grima, the Fell dragon. Our grandfather put the two through a ritual that allowed the dragon to possess them in order for it to complete its one wish; to get revenge on the divine dragons who helped to eliminate his species. I think they tried to fight back, but it just wasn't enough. My friends and I came back in time in an attempt to stop that from happening. I will do anything to save them from that pain, even if it means I have to kill them."

"You can't do that!" Mark said.

In the distance, I saw the others making their way towards me. Julius saw Mark and Morgan and prepared the Book of Naga.

"Wait! Julius, everything's alright! Just come over here and heal me!"

They all walked closer, and everyone grew more and more confused with each step. "Soren, what the hell is going on here?" I'm pretty sure that Geralt captured everyone's questions fairly well with that simple statement.

"Healing first, explanations later!" I groaned out, the pain getting to me.

XXXXXXXX

"So you're telling me that these two don't even remember all the times they've tried to kill us?" Geralt questioned, disbelieving of the situation.

"Well, you've seen how they are now, normally they would have summoned a larger horde of risen than we just fought and had us running for the hills." I responded.

"Well, I guess you have a point…" Christian said apprehensively.

Ciri and Syrenne tackle hugged the two. "Welcome to the family!" Ciri exclaimed as Morgan tried to shove her off.

"Yay! New members that aren't older than dirt!" Syrenne cheered as she hugged a blushing Mark.

"I'm only twenty!" Silver yelled at her sister

"That's old to me!" Syrenne replied with a smirk.

"I'm only a year older than you!" Geralt added in.

"Yes, but you have grandpa-hair, you don't count." Syrenne teased.

The two looked at each other, nodded, and began to chase Syrenne across the woods.

"So, are you serious about fighting our parents?" Mark asked me.

"I don't want to, but I can't see any other way." I replied.

"Then we will find another way!" Morgan exclaimed.

"If you can find a better way, then I'll take it. I can at least point you in the right direction."

"Where?" The two both asked.

"Head towards the Plegian shore, and look for a man named Blaze, the leader of the bloodrose legion. He will be able to lead you to our parents. From there you will be on your own." I instructed them.

"Okay, we will prove to you that we don't need to kill them!" Mark said, and with that they both left.

XXXXXX

_Aquila pov_

I was lounging around in the office. Validar was having a communion with some grimleal, Conner was off sparring with that king he hates, Koto was probably reaching Valm by now, and Grima was speaking with some of his favorite deadlords as usual. I was all alone, or almost, at least.

"I didn't get to bring those two together, but next time-" I heard Jaimie grumbling. Why did I have to be stuck with this one? In battle, she's our most versatile units, as long as no one brings a longbow or a blizzard tome. Her trump strengthens all of her physical parameters at the cost of making bonus damage even more dangerous to her. She also had a skill that gave her the deliverer bonus regardless of whether or not she is paired up, so she can get out of the way of most bows and tomes, but it's not quite enough to avoid long range weapons. However, her being an efficient unit did not make her any easier to handle.

"Why are you so obsessed with those two anyway?"

"Well, when I came here, the only Fire Emblem- related thing I had ever seen was my friend's yaoi of the two. That being all I was familiar with, I guess it was what has driven me so far."

That explains a lot. Surprisingly, she actually knew that she was crazy, she just didn't care all that much about it. I guess in Jaimie's case, knowing too little is actually worse than knowing nothing altogether. In the case of Conner and Koto, this place was more of a blank state than anything else. That one little detail became all she knew and drove her to insanity.

"Well you know, you know more about this world now, maybe we could fix your problem."

"Doesn't need fixing." Jaimie said in a singsong voice.

"Don't you wanna become normal again?"

"None of us are normal so nope." She responded in the childish voice she always used when annoyed.

"But-"

"Lalala I can't hear you~" She stuck her fingers into her ears. Ugh, how did Grima expect me to lead our group if I can't even handle this one coworker?

**XXXXXXX**

**This chapter. I wrote all of it today, and didn't have as much trouble as last time, but I don't like it as much as the last one. There is also the fact that when I was at practice today, I realized that I had accidentally wrote Silver's name as 'Crimson', so I had to go back and fix it.(If you see any remaining mistakes, feel free to tell me, but I probably won't change any of them) And finally, we actually get a little minor character development for the villains woo! I think that's the first time that has actually happened outside of any of their introductions in all of these 13 chapters. **

**Also, Cormag Ravenstaff and I have a project that will be coming soon. I don't know when exactly it will be out, since there is a small chance of us making a couple of chapters before release to make a buffer, but I believe most, if not all, of you will find the concept interesting. **

**Thanks for reading, please leave a review, and see you next time!**


	14. Arabian Days

**Author's notes: Well that took much longer than expected. Well, for anyone who doesn't know, Cormag and I now have a fic called Star Emblem, which I suggest you check out. Now that school has started with the four AP classes I was stupid enough to take at once, it can be difficult to get the half chapter for that done, let alone the full chapter for OC, so I'm giving that priority for now. This does not mean this story is on hiatus, just that I will be playing it by ear, and will mostly update when I have a long break from school.**

**Onto the reviews:**

**Bun-Bun: Woo! Shipping!**

**Ace: Who said next chapter? And who said I'm not gonna screw with certain details? Also, Grima will be even more op, in a one on one fight he could take on most of the shepherds with a tree branch.**

**Cormag:Chapter 13 was definitely the most fun to write. And yep, everyone in 2nd gen is OP in this story.**

**Chasti: Yeah, focus more on the OCs in many cases, since there are only a few canon characters that are really a main part of the story and well, I honestly don't know some of them very well. Plus if I wrote everyone properly this would take 300+ chapters, which I wouldn't mind if I had the time to write that much.**

**Pyro: Well, you've seen the project already, but for everyone else again it's STAR EMBLEM (shamelessly promotes own story)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem, if I did, Validar would be playable. I also don't own anything I reference.**

**XXXXXXXX **

_?pov_

"Someone help!" Nowi screamed in the loudest, highest pitch screech she possibly could.

I let out a loud sigh "For the last time, Gregor and I were trying to save you. If you didn't notice, we also had a manakete with us when we came to get you." Bantu, our client, had paid three bullions in advance for our service as mercenaries, and would have given us a rather large bullion afterwards had he not met an unfortunate fate during the operation. Despite his magical powers, the man's age left him so weak that one strike from a myrmidon was enough to bring the man down. I suppose he is getting a fine rest now, he was nearly ten thousand years old, after all, living during the subjugation of the dragons and fighting in Marth's army alongside the Voice of Naga.

"**Dylan**, Don't let dragon child bother you, she'll know truth once safe, no? Use ability, scan area for crazy cult people." I guess that's a pretty accurate definition of the grimleal, from what Bantu told me, they were planning on sacrificing Nowi to Grima, as she is a descendant of one of the twelve divine dragons. Said dragon certainly wasn't Naga, but it was a mystery as to which one it was.

I activated my trump, Occulus, and looked around the area, seeing past the sand dunes for miles. I didn't see any of them, and I knew they couldn't be that far away, which meant they had to be really close. Naga-dammit.

I deactivated my trump, adjusting as my vision returned to normal. I saw a blurry figure rushing towards me and I pulled out my gladius, Sunfire, and slashed out. As my eyes finally adjusted, I saw that I had only managed a glancing blow on the arm. Luckily, Gregor was ready with a follow-up that finished the man off.

I took a closer look at the man, seeing that he was nothing more than a boy in his teens that was sent to his death. The more see of the grimleal's work, the more I believe that they have absolutely no regard for life. I guess it makes sense, considering they worship a being that is considered the bane of humanity.

A large squad of enemies surrounded us, more than the three of us could take on alone. "Nowi! Run as far as you can!" I yelled as Gregor and I prepared to hold off the enemy forces.

"But, but-" Nowi began.

"One person living be better than all people dead, is it not?" Gregor said as he struck out at a myrmidon.

"I guess…" Nowi said sadly as she flew off.

A dark mage launched a blast of my magic, which blocked with Sunfire. The blade being imbued with light magic gave it a distinct advantage against dark magic. I used my blazing sword technique to ignite the blade with flames as leapt towards the mage and beheaded him.

I practically glided as I dodged arrows, magic, and sword strokes from the enemy. Any time I could get within three feet of the enemy, I slashed out to wound or hopefully kill the enemy. I could pick off a few of their number, as could Gregor, but the two of us just weren't enough. I felt a foot hit my torso as I flew towards the ground. When I looked up I saw a man holding his spear above my face. The man was about to bring it down when-

A man's foot, flying at an incredible speed with wind magic visible around him, slammed into the man's people with a sickening thud. The man stumbled for a meter or so before regaining his balance. "Never going to attempt to recreate Avatar again." the man grumbled.

Two women on pegasi came dropping off two men. "Kira, you never told me you had a sister." The brown haired one said, referring to the man who just saved me.

The man did look very similar to me, With black hair and and yellow eyes, both of us having a wiry build, although he was a good head taller than me. There were some contrasts, but they were superficial, such as his hair being short and mine long, a matter of preference rather than genetics. Our weapon choices were very different, his weapon being a rapier made of dark energy while mine a gladius out of light. The man may very well have been a sibling of mine, seeing as I had no memory of anything prior to the past year.

_"Yes, of course he is NOT your sibling."_

Thank you Stone, for the wonderful insight I would have known in a few minutes anyway. Where would I ever be without you?

"I don't have any siblings." The man said in reply, before turning to me "Oh by the way, I'm Kira, the guy with the spear is brutus, and the blue haired guy with the tattoo is Chrom." Chrom mouthed 'it's not a tattoo' in response "And the two women on pegasi are Sumia and Cordelia." he looked around "Oh, wow. Everyone's caught up and in the fray, it looks like we might not get any action today. Anyway, would you like to join the shepherds? You'd get a much better cash flow than you would as a mercenary." Kira gave a bright smile.

"Only on two conditions: My friend Gregor joins, and you give the manakete, Nowi a home." Brutus and Chrom had run off, worried the battle would end before they could do anything.

"Done and done. Nowi's already met with our group, and is currently with one of her own, Dolce." I looked up to see that two dragons were flying in the air one green and one black, who I assumed was Dolce. Nowi was laughing wildly and Dolce was appologizing as the two sprayed fire at the grimleal. "And Gregor is teaming up with Vaike." I saw Gregor alongside a blond man, cutting through several of the faster units while the blond man obliterated the armored units with a hammer.

"Then I guess I'm one of you now." In that instance, several reinforcements arrived as a mass of dark energy formed nearby. A dark crusader, one of the beings holding parts of my memories as well as one that I would have to defeat in order to unleash my full potential.

The energy merged together, taking the shape of a woman with red eyed and crimson tentacles made of muscle bursting out of her back. "The binge eater." Kira muttered under his breath "Plegians, risen, and now anime characters? Our luck must really be shit. Hey Gregor, Gaius, and Crimson, we could use some help over here!"

As the three came towards us, Kira made a plan "Crimson, you cover us with your levin knives from afar. Gaius, you get the first quick strike, Gregor gets a larger one in immediately after, and Dylan and I will make a powerful attack of our own. After that, we'll just have to wing it."

And that was exactly what we did. As Gaius was sweeping quickly by her tentacles to create an opening for gregor, Kira planned our attack. We both used our sword magic, Kira's wind feeding my fire while my fire spread to his own blade. "Let's show her some fire and Brimstone." Kira said with a smirk as we ran towards the woman. We both leapt up, leaving a massive x-shaped wound that sadly closed as we landed. Kira suddenly sped up, leaping and striking one of the tentacles three times, taking it out. That was one down, leaving her with only three to kill us with. We continued fighting, Gaius and Gregor landing quick strikes, Crimson unleashing blasts of lightning as she threw her levin knives, Kira launching missiles of dark energy while I fired balls of flames.

No matter what we tried, she just recovered from her wounds almost immediately, before striking us with her massive tentacles. Gregor already had a wide gash on his chest and there were multiple small ravines forming in the sand from the force of her strikes. THe woman simply laughed at our attempts to defeat her, referring to us as sacks of flesh who would be nothing more than a meal to her. Whatever this woman was, she certainly wasn't human.

"Hey, what's the strongest fire tome you have?" Kira asked me, panting.

"Bolganone, why?"

"Perfect, I have an idea, but we'll have to get as close as possible."

We both rushed the creature. As we got within five feet Kira yelled "Dylan, Now!"

I launched my Bolganone, while Kira launched his Rexcalibur. The two collided as they reached the creature and exploded in one massive bonfire. Now, the woman that had been laughing at us was now screaming. After a minute or so, the fire faded and the shriek stopped.

"Burn baby burn!" Kira said with a smirk.

"_I kinda like this guy, he knows his references."_

What references- wait, the remains of the dark crusader are floating to me maybe I'll remember something!" A small orb of light came in contact with me and dissolved. I felt a surge of power, but no memories.

We turned around to see that the others had already taken out the reinforcements and the shepherds led us to camp.

XXXXXXXX

"Did memories come back?" Gregor asked with a worried look. We had met a few months after my first memory and was the only one who knew of my predicament.

I sighed "Nope. Not a one. I'm starting to think that I'll never remember anything." I felt a tear running down my cheek. That was the fourth one of those things I had defeated, and I still got nothing out of it.

"So what if memories not come back?" Gregor wiped the tear off my cheek and attempted to smile. "We simply make new ones. If you never remember, then memories be not worth remembering anyway."

"Thank you, Gregor." I pulled him into a hug, partly because he was a good friend and partly because I really needed it right now myself.

Nowi walked up to us. "Why is miss Dylan scared?" She said with a frown. What did you do to her, Gregor?" She accused.

"Why you blame me?" Gregor asked.

"Because your scary!" I couldn't suppress my laughter as Nowi said this, and my mood became a little brighter.

XXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

"So you guys understand the plan?" I asked Ricken and Maribelle.

"Yes," Ricken began "I take…" Ricken looked around nervously "THAT tome and use it to give you an opening."

"Then I will use a rescue staff to pull her away once you've finished your end." Maribelle said.

"And if my end fails?"

"Then I use THAT staff," she was less nervous about saying it than Ricken, but she still didn't want to reveal the ace she held in her sleeve "And make sure she survives, no matter the cost. Why did you only bring the two of us into this, by the way?"

"I knew I would need help, but I wanted to involve as few people as possible, that way we are the only ones to blame if we fail. You two happened to be the most suited for the job. I would have just gone with Ricken, but we may need your staff and Ricken would have told you about the plan either way. You are his fiance, after all."

"I guess that is a fair point, however…" Maribelle drawled.

"Yes?"

"It would be very unwise to put so much pressure on yourself. You can not always succeed in swaying your fate after all."

"I would say otherwise, my very presence is the product of Naga fighting against our fate, as you both probably know with that weird connection with the divine dragons your families are known for."

"Yes, we've heard," Ricken said in Maribelle's place "but there are still things that truly must come either way. Whether the fate of Emmeryn is one such thing, we shall find out, but don't worry about things which may not necessarily be within your control."

"If it's not in our control, then we may simply fall against what is within Grima's. We'll need every ounce of assistance we can get. While the royal family and I certainly need Emmeryn at our sides, we aren't the only ones. We're all pieces on the chessboard sitting at the dragons' table now, and if one piece is out of place, it could alter the course of the world's future completely."

XXXXXXX

_Brutus pov_

"Hey Brutus, are you up for a spar?" Cordelia said as she walked up to me. When I looked at her she had a wound on her arm that appeared to be from an arrow she took out herself, and her pegasus had a few grazes of her own.

"I don't think you should be training right now."

"Weren't you the one who trains every day as hard as he can to improve?"

"Not when I'm injured. If you train now you will only make your injuries worse and slow yourself down."

"I've fallen so far behind all of you! I need the training so I won't be a hindrance!"

"You'll catch up by the time we reach the Plegian castle anyway, so you don't have to worry. Besides, you're not a hindrance to us, you're a very helpful unit, especially since you can travel much easier than we can in the desert. However, if you overwork yourself while injured you'll make yourself into a hindrance and you may get yourself killed."

Cordelia picked up her practice spear, she charged forward… and fell to the ground. "Do you see what I mean? I'm taking you to Lissa."

I picked her up and began carrying her. When she stated that she could walk on her own, I pointed out how easily she fell earlier.

I got to Lissa in the med tent. "Oh hey Brutus- what happened to Cordelia? You guys didn't go too hard on her during your sparring did you?"

"Well-" Cordelia began only for me to cut her off.

"This idiot decided it was a good idea for her to hide her injuries. She was fully intent on training despite her wounds and get herself hurt worse than she already was."

"You don't need to be so hard on her, Brutus. You did that quite a few times when we were younger. That's how I got most of my early first hand training, Remember? You and Chrom would get yourselves hurt then come to me to try to hide it from Emm and Frederick."

"See? You shouldn't have been so ster about it." Cordelia said.

"And he shouldn't have let you go through with training. Do you understand?" She glared at Cordelia, and I felt sorry for the rider. While Lissa was usually bubbly and smiling, she could e downright terrifying when she wanted to. There have even been times when that glare has silenced Phila and Frederick during their worst rants.

Lissa took out her mend staff and healed Cordelia's arm, before applying a small vulnerary salve and wrapping it with bandage. "Okay, it's healed, but don't move around too much today. I want you to stay in this tent tonight while the muscles set. You took a pretty good hit there, you were lucky it was only your arm."

"That's why I need to train harder!"

"No, that's why you need to stop being reckless!" Lissa said sternly while reaching for the reigns on Cordelia's pegasus.

"Shouldn't I be the one taking care of Ferry?" Cordelia asked, nervous that someone else was caring for her steed.

"You need to just take it easy. I don't want you to do anything even slightly strenuous. The most you'll do today is eat and rub Ferry's mane." She walked out rubbing Ferry's nose while saying 'Ok honey, let's get you taken care of before you mommy has a fit!'

Cordelia gave me a look that seemed to scream 'Look what you've done!'

"Yeah, that may have been a little overboard, but at least you'll be well rested for our next sparring match."

"I'll make sure to do some extra work tomorrow." She said with a smile.

"That's perfectly fine as long as you don't get yourself hurt again."

"Don't worry, I'll do anything to not have to go through this again." A mischievous smile formed on Cordelia's lips. "So, you used to do that as well? Do you have any stories to tell?"

"Well, there was this one time…"

XXXXXXXXX

_Kyouko pov_

Agrona, Aelia and I were watching Cassius and Marcus spar. The two exchanged blows, Marcus landing quick and light strikes while Cassius relied on heavy blows.

"Hey Aelia, one hundred gold on Marcus!" Agron said with a smirk.

"You know, for a tactician, you're not that smart. Cassius would win if he was using an axe on this guy, Marcus is screwed against him with a lance. Oh well, that just means get easy money." Aelia replied.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Marcus is doing better than usual." I said, seeing Agrona's point. It seemed like an even match, so I wouldn't bet either way.

Cassius reared back and landed an extremely powerful strike, luna. Marcus countered this by redirecting some of the force-wait, is that pavise? When did he learn that? Marcus followed up and struck Cassius, the bruises he had earned beginning to fade. Before Cassius could react, Marcus had his blade at Cassius' throat.

"What the hell?"Aelius bellowed.

"Looks like you owe me one hundred gold. Pretty exciting huh, Kyouko?" I could only nod dumbly, trying to comprehend how Marcus did that.

Agrona and Aelius walked towards Cassius and whispered something before they all left.

"How did you do that?" I asked Marcus, still dumbstruck.

"I may not look like it, but I've actually been training every night. By the way, next time we stop somewhere, any chance you'd like to get a bite to eat." He said, looking nervous.

Well, that came out of nowhere, or did it? He did always get my attention before he did something stupid, had he been trying to impress me?

I stood up, readying my blade "On one condition; you beat me in the next match." I said with a smirk.

"I should have expected that." Marcus said calmly as he readied his own sword.

**XXXXXXXX**

**Welp, a little short for that long a break, but at least we've got something now. This was one chapter I didn't figure out until school started, and even then I just kinda went with the flow. We also finally gave some love for the mini-shepherds. Next chapter will be another 2nd gen chapter then we'll have what may end up as a two part or a double size chapter for what will be the craziest thing we'll do in the entire Plegia arc. Please leave a review, it is for writers what clapping is for Tinkerbell.**


	15. Another side, another skirmish

**Well that was sooner than expected, but don't expect to always get my updates this fast. I'm getting more used to managing my time, but I still can't make any promise on updates.**

**Review answers:**

**ELDYLO: This Dylan was made by Tumerboy12, yours was just barely too late to be accepted.**

**Bun-Bun:Nah, I just noticed some similarities while reading the form, and I like these kinds of scenes.**

**X-ray: Well, I've also been updating Star Emblem, so there's that.**

**Cormag: I knew Shadow forgot something about writing Gregor! Also, Shadow is glad Dylan confuses you and that the BruusxCordelia ship is slowly being built.**

**Chasti:Yay more warmaps!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem**

**XXXXXXXX**

_Julius pov_

"Lucina… I'm sorry." I heard Soren mumbling in his sleep. It seemed that he was having a nightmare caused by recent events. I guess it was only to be expected, seeing as he had left behind one of the only people he ever truly trusted, as well as the first person he had ever opened up to.

They were the first two to truly suffer from Grima's rising. Sure, there was also Cynthia, Lucina's sister, but she was only a toddler at the time, too young to truly understand what had happened. The nightmares were a common occurrence at first for the both of them. In fact, there was a point in time when Lucina had asked that her room be moved to another wing so that her sleep talking wouldn't disturb Cynthia. While we all refused at first, she was so adamant about it that we were given no choice but to eventually comply. The wing she had been moved to was right across from Soren, who had been suffering from similar issues. The next day, the two had complained about hearing strange mutterings across the hall, and realized that it was each other. That was the moment when their friendship had begun.

Within a few months, the two had grown strong enough to hold a practice sword and begged my father to teach them. A few weeks later, Dad had taken the two, as well as my sister, to train them as well as he could. He didn't know much about the fighting style of the exalt, nor the broadsword style that Soren would find to be the most efficient, but he could at least keep the two on their toes.

Over time, Soren began to train in magic with my sister and I, as well as join in tactics lessons with me, but he still made sure to spare time to spar with Lucina. As the two grew older, they got to the point where they knew each other's styles too well to actually get anything out of it, but they still sparred because as they took on more and more tasks, they had less and less time to spend with each other. In these moments, Soren had told me it felt as if the world were still sane.

Sadly, all of that changed when our first battle came. With the deaths of my father and Brutus, the last of the shepherds were killed off. That left us, the six of the shepherds' children who were old enough to fight, to take the lead of the fight against Grima. Hastily, Lucina had been named exalt and Soren the exalt's magus, a title that had not existed within the kingdom for several centuries. While this gave the two more time together, and more and more shepherds joined with each passing year, nothing was the same again. Every day, the shepherds had to fight battle after battle. While eventually our number jumped to twenty eight, now thirty with Syrenne and Silver, we had already lost several thousand normal soldiers, far more than we could possibly make up for. Had we not traveled back, there was no chance we could have ever lasted more than a decade.

And now, Soren had to deal with the fact that he had abandoned his first friend to lead the shepherds alone, and the group's numbers had dropped to twelve, with the rest scattered across the world.

XXXXXXXXX

_Soren pov_

We were standing in the field next to Mustafa's campsite. There were two plans I had for this: one easy, one bloody. Hopefully we could go the easy way, but Mustafa would have to agree with me.

I entered the campsite "General Mustafa! I know that you doubt Gangrel's motives, so I have a proposition for you." There were murmurs among the troop. Many of them probably realized that their general had reservations about Gangrel, but had no idea how far they went nor what my 'proposition' was. "I challenge you to a duel, we will fight until one of us cannot continue, but death is to be avoided if possible. If I win, then we will fake your death and your soldiers can choose whether they still wish to follow the king." They would most likely defect, as Mustafa was the only thing that kept most of them in the army. Mustafa was the martyr that ended the war, not Emmeryn.

"I will accept on one condition," The general said "You must set your tomes aside."

Well, that would make things a lot more difficult, but I still complied. I walked towards the sparring ring, drawing clarent and preparing for battle. There would be no referee, only competitors and spectators. The first blow would be decided by whoever chose to take it, as on a real battlefield.

Knowing that I was at a disadvantage against his lance and would only be killed if I attempted a full assault, I waited for his strike. He launched an arcing blow which I blocked to test his strength.

I felt myself being pushed back as if I were struck by a horse, and I immediately knew that I would need to rely on dodges and parries or I wouldn't last very long. Luckily, I managed to recover quickly enough to launch a counter, which merely met with the bulky man's wall-like guard.

I ducked into a roll before lashing out at him again. This time, I was too fast for his guard and managed to draw a small amount of blood.

In return, I was me with a blunt strike to the face. I recovered much more slowly this time, barely avoiding as the slab of silver struck out at me again.

The taste of iron filled my mouth as I realized that I would need a better plan to defeat him. Wait, mustafa had merely said that I couldn't use tomes. He didn't say anything about the magic itself.

I channeled the dark energy I was so familiar with, sliding behind Mustafa before landing a gash on his shoulder.

The man stared at me in bewilderment "I made it clear that-"

"You said I couldn't use tomes, you said nothing about me casting spells without tomes." While my spells themselves weren't all that powerful, I could control them better than anyone else could. As such, I didn't need to use a tome for magic, although my spells weren't nearly as powerful without them.

I lit my blade with a faint blue flame. The spell wouldn't add much without my bolganone tome, but it would still give me a slight edge. I struck at him, this time his guard wasn't finished, so I managed to break through and get a minor graze.

He came at me again, and I blinked out of the way. I struck again, meeting his full block, this time with equal forces clashing. He pushed as hard as he could, trying to force me back, knowing he would have to finish me quickly. I put both hands on my hilt and pushed with all my might.

It seemed as if we would just stay like this, until suddenly- crack- a fracture formed in the spear. The fracture spread until the weapon broke. I simply stood there.

"You can't exactly fight without a weapon."

Mustafa let out a sigh "That is correct, I concede." Cheers rang out from across the camp. Their commander may have lost, but it was probably one of the most interesting matches they had seen. It wasn't often that the finest general in all of Plegia was bested, after all.

"So now you're free, we'll just need to find a way to fake your death." Suddenly, a tangle of roots burst out at an immense speed, piercing through Mustafa's armor.

"Or we could give him his real death. It` wouldn't do for us to have one of our best rooks turning against us." came the all too familiar voice of Aquila "A martyr, however, would be greatly beneficial. It would even make it easier for us to sway the people once the Mad King falls. And even if his troops speak out, the soldiers will think that the Ylisseans bribed his own troop to do the job. That sounds like a wonderful plan now doesn't it, future brats?"

XXXXXXXX

_Julius pov_

Oh Naga, why did it have to be _him_, I thought as I rubbed the scar on my face. Painful memories immediately came back to me.

_"You're pretty good, although what could I have expected from Kira's kid. However, you don't have the power, the anger, to win this war." The man took the bladed end of his staff, pulling it across my face, leaving a mark as if he were branding cattle. "I'll let you live for now, but you better improve next time I see you. Let this scar be a reminder, a way to fuel your hatred to use as a weapon. If you can't manage that, I'll toss you out like the thousands of other pieces of drek I have come across in my time." The man walked away, leaving me lying only semi conscious against the tree. I felt my eyelids growing heavy, and soon closed them. When I awoke I was in the sick bay, with all my wounds healed, except for the one Aquila had left on my face._

The man looked us over as if we were pigs waiting to be slaughtered. "Why would I bother with that measly troop when I have some of my master's most hated enemies right here? I even have the prince here, and the son of the _former _exalt." He said as he looked at Soren and I.

I couldn't stay still any longer. I took out my own personal tome, Morningstar, and fired an orb of light at him. The man created a small shield of soil as Soren charged towards him. With a flick of my hand I caused the orb to explode and take out a hole for Soren to charge through.

Aquila dodged Soren's attack, only to walk into a trap set by Geralt. Knives flew towards Aquila, bouncing off his skin due to his trump. At the very least, the attack made a few grazes, which was more than we had ever done to the Aquila of our time.

"Do you still have your Levin knives?" I asked Silver.

"Yeah, why?" She asked in response.

"Use them once you get an opening." As I said this, Syrenne,Ciri, and Christian formed a group attack. Syrenne launched a blast of flame using the Sword of Seals, immediately followed by a powerful axe strike that Aquila barely managed to parry from Ciri, and a long stream of flame unleashed by Christian. Even after the attacks, Aquila still only had minor burns and scratches.

By the time the attack had ended, Silver was above Aquila's head. She threw the daggers down, and I used Morningstar to ignite them, doubling their power. I had added extra runes on them in secret that would amplify my light magic. I probably still wouldn't be able to use them from this distance with any of my other tomes, but I had made Morningstar myself and knew it better than any other tome. Creiddylad was mainly there for crowd control and the Book of Naga was strictly an anti-dragon weapon for me, although it would probably still work pretty well against Grima's servants.

Soren used the opportunity caused by this to pull out all the stops, wrapping his entire body in blue flame before striking him. Now Aquila was starting to accrue some larger wounds, still nothing major, but if the battle lasted long enough then he may have simply bled out.

Aquila decided that Soren and I were currently the most dangerous targets and pointed one hand at each of us, conjuring the same roots that had killed Mustafa. Soren began using shadow travel multiple times, dodging each individual root as he went. I however had a different strategy, attacking it head on with light magic.

The magic web had an interesting effect on light magic. As the branch faded out, anima users slowly took out the qualities that had helped them to defeat light magic, as there was no longer any need for it. This left shaman magic as the only branch with advantageous effects over it, however, light magic also had the advantage over shaman magic. This made it so that if the two collided, than they would be at a stand still, no light magic being able to pass the shaman magic and vice versa for the shaman magic. However, in the case of stationary magic such as shields, the attacking spell would rip through it. This meant that both branches could be used as both the ultimate weapon and the ultimate guard against one another.

Aquila summoned his familiar, the one thing there was no defense against. This was a living being rather than pure magic, so the magic web would only have minor effects on it. In addition to that, the thing was very powerful, if much more frail than Aquila. Aquila may have abandoned the thing in our time, but that was only because the man had become nigh invulnerable by that point. If we couldn't take the thing out quickly we would be done for.

Suddenly, a massive blast of dark energy shaped like wind magic and an intense ball of flame roared into the familiar, destroying it instantly. Balberith and Valflame, that would do it.

I turned around to see a man with purple eyes and shaggy red hair, wearing a cross between a sage's and a sorcerer's outfits, **Xane**. Next to him was a young boy who wore what seemed to be a black version of the swordmaster's outfit over a gray button up t-shirt similar to the ones from my father's home, it looked similar to what was worn by Koto, the grim reaper. Over his face was a kitsune mask. Wait, wasn't Valflame Laurent's weapon? Although it used to be in Koto's hands, and- I would have to watch out for this guy.

I was brought out of my reverie as I saw a man with short black hair and grey eyes wearing a war monk's outfit charging Aquila, **Jordan. **Jordan charged wind magic into his fist, Excalibur, before punching Aquila in the face, making him reel back as his lip busted.

"Damn, you guys brought some good reinforcements. I guess I'll have to let you live, for now." Aquila took out one of his blue teleportation crystals and threw it to the ground, vanishing.

XXXXX

We all gathered together for a while to recover. "So where were you two?" I asked Xane and Jordan "And who exactly is this guy?" I pointed to the boy in the Kitsune mask.

"I'm **Nox**." The boy mumbled, before losing himself in thought again.

"Well, I met some dark mages in Ferox, so I decided to stay for a month or so of training to see what kind of style non-grimleal dark mages use. I never got the chance to trin with Kira, and Soren's kind of the child of Grima," Xane pointed at Soren's hand which was no uncovered.

"I swear this is proving to be less and less of a secret every day." Soren grumbled.

"Dark mages have a way with telling these things, Laurent knew as well. Anyway, Laurent was also trained in his father's style. That meant that I never got the chance to meet another dark mage that didn't use a grimleal style, so I was rather curious. On my way back to Ylisse, I ran into Jordan, and soon after we met Nox here, who alerted that the shit in Plegia was already starting, so we came here. We kinda sucked with directions, which is how we ended up so far out of the way."

"And in my case," Jordan began, "I had met with a dark knight who I ended up apprenticed to for a while. I didn't learn any new hand to hand moves, but he helped me to balance the amounts of strength and magic I threw in as well as some tricks for better channeling. The man had a pretty good grasp on it himself considering he was actually able to do thunder based sword magic. I would have recruited him to our cause, but he was killed by a rather powerful risen on the way down. I couldn't save him, but the risen was weakened enough for me to get revenge."

"Hmm, I kinda wish we could have met with you guys sooner, but if you two learned some tricks that could help us all later on." Soren stated, weighing pros and cons.

"By the way, where are we going after this?" Geralt asked Soren.

"That's a good question, are we heading back to the village, Julius?" Silver asked me.

"Well, I think we'll go to train somewhere, most likely in the outrealms." Soren began "That way, we can make sure we are ready for our mission."

"In our case," I responded to Silver "We'll be heading to Valm. That way we'll be able to thin out some of the enemy before the shepherds get there." I don't even care if Nox isn't one of us, he probably already knows anyway, since he's been with Xane and Jordan all this time. "What about you guys?" I asked the three stragglers.

"Well, I'd like to learn how to use staves, so it may be a good idea for me to go with you. No offense to Christian," Jordan turned and raised his hands apologetically towards Christian, showing that he was sincere "but you were the head healer, so you would probably be the best teacher."

"I'd like to improve my dark magic, and what better teacher could there be than the fell prince himself? I'll go with Soren." Xane stated in a calm manner, not even asking about their mission.

"I doubt Soren will need any more manpower, so I'll go with Julius seeing as they will need all the help they can get." Good, that means I can keep my eyes firmly planted on you. There's something fishy about you, and I'll find out.

"Well, I guess that's the plan, let's go." Soren gave me a quick fistbump, before turning around.

"Wait!" Ciri ran up and gave geralt a hug to Geralt, which he begrudgingly returned. "Be careful, I don't want to lose my brother."

"The same goes for you." Geralt ruffled Ciri's hair a bit before leaving. Soon the entire group was gone.

"Ugh, it's been such a long day, can I just get a little tipsy to relax?" Silver complained, going on alcohol withdrawals.

"You should already know what he's gonna say." Syrenne teased.

"A lady can hope, right?"

"Sure, today's worth celebrating, go wild." I replied, and everyone's jaws dropped except for Nox, who simply looked confused at everyone's reactions. Although Jordan hadn't been around the village, he had been in the shepherds, and knew just how strict I was about wine.

Silver ran up and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you so much!" If that's the payment I get for giving her wine, It may be a good idea to let her loosen up more.

**XXXXXXXX**

**That was probably the most intense one day session I've done so far. Next chapter will probably be the biggest part of the Plegia arc, and will probably be larger than normal word count wise as well. Also, I'd like you guys to check out Bunri's "Would You Press The Button?" and mine and Cormag's "Star Emblem" if you haven't already. Anyway, please review, and see you next time!**


	16. Executions and Mass Confusion

**Well, I was very lucky with my workload and we had chosen to hold off on Star Emblem for the week, so I was able to get this chapter done rather quickly. I'm already fried from writing all of this so soon, to be honest.**

**Review answers:**

**Bun-bun: Yeah, Nox will be under suspicion from Julius, especially during the timeskip.**

**Chasti: Woo! A non-OC was actually mentioned that wasn't brutally killed! Not as much as Soren, Julius has major skills but Soren just takes the cake. Dear Lord.**

**Cormag: Julius doesn't even realize he's awesome, which makes it even better in my opinion. Yeah, my plan for Aquila is basically wrecks shit, wrecks more shit, minor character dev and becomes even more OP, death. We're not even through naming OCs, and Nox is kind of an…. enigma, to say the least.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem, I don't have that kind of money.**

**XXXXXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

This was it, this was the day of the execution. We had spent over a month of marching, fighting, and training, all for this very moment. I had a plan to do this, one which Ricken, Maribelle, and I had practiced until each step was carved into our brains, and yet I still couldn't calm myself down. For one thing, there were all the variables to consider. First, there was Dylan, I knew that her class was a mystic crusader and that she seemed to be a jack-of-all-trades, but little else. While I don't think she'll make a huge difference in this particular mission, but who knows what she'll do in the long run? Actually, who knows what any of us will do over time? We have all been put in fairly influential aspects of this world's timeline, and literally anything we do could cause a potential butterfly effect into devastation. Even if that wasn't an issue, there's still the fact that Grima's servants are running around, now that one could affect this mission.

_"Dammit you idiot, keep your head in gear! Everyone's already charging in!"_

I ran in after everyone. As we came in we heard Robin's voice "Ricken, Kira, we could use your wind magic in case there are wyvern rider reinforcements.

This could have thrown a wrench in my plans, but luckily I had thought ahead, knowing we'd need a backup. Dylan walked over "Well, I have a few wind tomes, and we could probably use the extra troops up at the front. While wyvern riders are more likely to come in this way, we could still be ambushed at the front and that's where we'll need the firepower most. It would be best to mow down the troops before Gangrel can call in too many reinforcements, after all." It was certainly a good idea for me to have gotten her involved, we would have seriously lost all chances of accomplishing our plan otherwise.

We charged through the entry of the courtyard, finding little resistance, as most of the troops were concentrated near the front, where Tharja would be. There was, however, a myrmidon with his sword aimed right at Libra.

And now Dolce's sword was implanted in the myrmidon's throat. "You need to watch out, if you die then you won't be able to build that church you wanted." She said with a smirk, although her eyes held a worried look, telling a much different story.

"I doubt that I'd be able to find the funds…" Libra replied.

"Libra, I promise you that after this I'll have a damned cathedral built for you if you so please. You're not even listed as a soldier, yet you still rushed into battle for us. I can't even begin to thank you for that." He really wasn't like the rest of us, even the people we randomly pick up either have nowhere else to go or serve another leader that doesn't please them."

"I don't see how you could do that. Besides, I don't see how a damned establishment would serve the clergy well."

"You know what I meant! And I have my ways."

I left the area, rushing over to where Chrom had just recruited Tharja. A barbarian prepared his axe against an unsuspecting Tharja, only for Virion to swiftly nock an arrow and let if fly past the cartilage of the man's nose, damaging his frontal lobe and possibly the rest of his brain. Okay, I shouldn't think of how the man died, just that he did.

Tharja cast her eyes down and mumbled "Owe you one."

We charged through the battlefield, ignoring most of the troops since Chrom and Khrow were mowing everyone down. Resolve does a lot for a man, and Chrom has so much that it's seeping into Khrow's disposition as well. The two had essentially become a human blender, hacking off limbs or lopping off heads with every strike. The two were descended from the two most powerful beings in all of Archannea, and they were certainly showing it; Chrom took on the appearance of a vengeful angel while the Plegian soldiers let out gasps of "He's a demon!" at the sight of Khrow.

Seeing that the situation here was taken care of, I rushed over to Campari's location.

"They sent one as scrawny as you to take down the likes of me? I expected more, even from Ylissean rats like you." Campari stated as he looked me over.

"Says the man whose entire company is falling like dominoes." I muttered as I charged at him. There was one very important thing about generals: they are slow. With devil speed added in I easily rolled past his spear and landed a blow to the leg. Afterwards, I quickly whipped around and sunk my rapier through his back, and kicked him off. "You were only made general because Gangrel wants his leaders to be weak enough for him to control. You were just as much a pawn as any other soldier, so you had no room for arrogance.

The risen began to form "Ricken, are you ready?" The archers were much further than the game represented, and they each carried longbows. We would have to hurry.

"Well I hope no one's too close to the area," Ricken smirked as wind wrapped around him, his eyes took a green tint and his voice sounded draconic "Because they might just end up in the splash zone?"

"_Is that Ricken or Forseti talking? Either way, that was pretty creepy."_

I can't even tell sometimes, but I think it's Forseti, since Forseti seems to be pretty bloodthirsty.

I ran to the tower where Emmeryn was held, dashing as quickly as possible. We couldn't save Phila, and I barely managed to even make it as Emm fell. I quickly raised my hands, forming a thin layer of wind with my Rexcalibur tome.

I had thoroughly studied the mechanics of this, as it seemed the simplest way to save Emm. Only a B tome would work, as a c-rank would be spread too thin and an a-rank would rip right through her. Even then a single miscalculation could cause Emm's death. I knew that this could make things even worse if I failed, but I was just too damn selfish not to try. I did my best to stay calm as I released the spell, but failing.

I felt a huge amount of satisfaction as the wind caught her. I lowered her slowly towards the ground. At one point, the archer let out a volley of arrows, but thankfully Ricken was able to knock them aside with his wind magic.

As soon as Emmeryn reached my hands, I felt for her pulse. It was faint, very faint, but still there. "Maribelle!" I yelled out as I felt Emmeryn being pulled away from me by a rescue staff and heard the group's cheer.

Suddenly, risen started pouring in, led by Jaimie and Conner. It seemed that there was no chance for us.

Howevr, at the same time, about one hundred human soldiers came marching towards the courtyard, and a massive hall was blown in the front wall and everyone on both sides froze.

Standing there were Cherche, Priam, two young soldiers wearing grimleal cloaks, Aversa, and Henry, all in strange poses. Standing in the center was a man I had never seen, holding out his hand in such a manner that his tattoo- a wilted rose- was easily visible. Wait- those poses… Okay, their leader is either a JoJo fan or a Persona user. The man took a step forward before announcing "I am Blaze Fenix. To the shepherds, it's a pleasure to meet you. For the Plegians, I am certain it will be a pleasure to kick your ass."

"_I'm already liking this guy_."

**XXXXXXXXX**

_Blaze pov_

We rushed into battle. The first thing I saw was Henry sending his crows to attack the risen. Before I could even reach the horde the crows were already gnawing at a few of them, trying to get some food before the risen disintegrated.

I pulled out my killing edge and stabbed it through a mage, easily tearing through it. I felt my muscles grow stronger and my defense become thicker as the life faded from the risen. That was one of my skills, soul trap, which doubled my strength and physical defense for a short time after killing my enemy. Sadly, it seemed that I didn't get a crit, otherwise I'd feel a small increase in my arcane talents.

I looked at a man with black hair and yellow eyes. "What can you tell me about the two leaders?"

"Oh, the first one is named Conner, he's not all that strong at first, at least compared to the other one, but he can unleash a massive burst of strength for the first time. The other is Jaimie, and she is better all around, but it seems she'll go down really easily if you use the proper equipment. I'm Kira, by the way."

"Nice to meet you." I charged through the other risen. While most of us were fighting the risen, it seemed that Priam, Aversa, Mark, and Morgan were dealing the most damage. I guess that made sense, seeing as Aversa and Priam were both much stronger than any unit they'd have at this point in time, and Mark and Morgan, while not immensely so, were still stronger than most of the other units in the army and both had extremely powerful weapons. They also seemed to know their weapons better, as Goetia molded itself perfectly to Morgan's fell dragon blood while Ragnell gave its full power to Mark where it only gave about half to Priam. Due to this, Priam was only able to throw his sword while Mark could-

"Guess what?" Mark inquired to Conner, who he had somehow managed to reach while none of the others were even close, with the exception of maybe the fliers, two of whom were currently contending with Jaimie. Maybe because he was so small, maybe because he was related to Grima.

"What?" Conner asked with a confused look.

"Sword beam." And with that, a fiery laser erupted from Marks copy of Ragnell. And that's the difference between How Mark and Priam use their blades. Conner did what looked like some crazy dance move and avoided the attack, however a risen or two were defeated in the process.

Suddenly, Cordelia swooped down with her lance, only for Conner to slide to the side and strike with the flat of the blade. While Cordelia had no issue blocking the attack, there was still enough force behind it for her to be knocked off of her mount.

"I won't let you hurt another one of my friends!" A man with a spear said, Brutus, I believe. He threw his spear at a curve and wrapped the chain around his blade, tugging as hard as he could. Conner unleashed a massive burst of energy as he broke free of Brutus' grasp, his trump. I knew for a fact that those three would not be enough against him, but luckily Priam broke through the horde at that moment to join the fray, and I knew that Priam was on par with, if not stronger than this man.

I looked up to see Cherche and Sumia dueling with Jaimie, who was wielding a large sword that seemed almost as if it belonged in Final Fantasy.

"_Veni, Veni, venias, ne me mori facias. Veni, Veni, Venia-"_

Don't sing that song! You know I'm not exactly a fan.

"_Come on, you have to admit that song's badass."_

Maybe a little. Cherche charged in with Hauteclere, only to be unable to land a hit due to her shorter range. A blast of wind came at her, which she dodged, causing the attack to hit Sumia. Things were not looking very good for those two. Wait, Kira said she should go down if she's hit with her weakness, right?

I drew energy through my blizzard tome, feeling a strength welling up more powerful than any I had unleashed before. As I unleashed the ice spell I let out a yell of "I nominate you for the Ice Bucket Challenge!". The spell arced around before the pillars of ice converged towards her. Or at least the area she had been, seeing as she had just disappeared in blue light.

I looked around, seeing that the risen had been routed and that Conner had pulled a houdini just like Jaimie did.

There was, however, the new scene of Khrow on one knee, holding a ring out to a smiling Aversa. Morgan almost started to jump up and down from excitement, but I placed my hand on her shoulder and reminded her that the others weren't supposed to know who she was, so it was a bad idea to make a scene over her parents.

And with a new boost in morale for the group, we all marched on.

XXXXXXXX

When we reached the camp, I shared a conversation with Cherche. "So you'll be going back to Roseanne, huh?" I sighed "It was good having you with-"

"Now who exactly told you that I would be leaving?" Cherche questioned.

"Well, I thought that since you had come in contact with the duke-"

"Lord Virion wishes to stay with the shepherds. Besides, you'll need someone to look after you, as well."

"I can take care of-"

"I am not fond of letting a friend risk his life if I'm not at least there to help. Now don't argue with me any further, unless of course you want me to leave." She gave me the saddest look she could muster, and my spirits were instantly broken. "I'll ask Khrow and Robin to give us a tent for you."

_Kira pov_

As we marched, we met up with the Feroxi group, along with Martin, who Flavia and Basillo had asked to come and serve as a defensive unit. "So how was your time with the vikings?"

"I don't understand how they could find such pleasure out of battle. How can someone enjoy death?" Martin seemed very perplexed.

"They are a different people, for whom centuries of war have been the only means of survival. Of course we can't understand their culture, although that doesn't mean you can't at least try. Maybe you should talk to Flavia, and get her view on things."

"I guess I'll try, although I'm not sure I'll understand."

XXXXXXXX

"She's alive, but just barely." Lissa told us upon checking on Emmeryn. "She's in a comatose state, she may wake up in an hour, a day, a week, or maybe months away from now, but she will wake up eventually."

"I guess there's that, at least." I said my voice cracking.

Chrom put a hand on my shoulder "You did your best, Kira. It would have ended up worse without you. Lissa, I believe we'll stay the night here, you should go check your other patients and then get some rest." Lissa left before Chrom continued with a sigh. "She did it to save us from my stupidity, huh?" I looked at him, wondering if he had come to the conclusion I had "Even if I gave up the emblem, she would have still been killed, huh?"

"Probably, but let's not think about that right now. Let's both just put all our effort into praying for Emm to wake up, okay."

"That's fine with me, do you plan on leaving anytime soon?"

"I don't plan on sleeping in my own tent until she's back up, so no." I told Chrom with full sincerity.

"I guess the others will need me at some point." Chrom sighed.

"They understand. Besides, we all know Khrow and Robin do most of the real work anyway." We both shared a laugh at this. It was an empty laugh, but a laugh nonetheless.

XXXXXXX

After countless hours, I fell asleep. I found myself atop the skyscraper in the city I had grown accustomed to over the past months. However, Shade was no longer wearing the armor from before, and now was wearing the very same outfit that I was.

"_It is time for another test; this time you must defeat me by any means necessary." _

We locked into battle once more. This time, rather than being completely outmatched, we fought on equal terms. I had grown stronger while Shade's power was weakened. We matched each other at each and every blow, both of us unable to get an edge on the other.

That changed once I did the one thing I was never able to do in my inner world: use my trump. As soon as I managed that, I was able to outspeed him and finish him off with a flurry of blows.

After the battle, Shade held three objects to me: a set of beads that glowed with a strange light, a mirror that had a sort of ominous aura, and a plain blade. I chose the one that seemed to reach out to me, the blade. Suddenly, I m old cloak was covered with hardened black leather armor and a shogun's helmet was added to my hood. This would certainly provide a little better protection without hindering my movements, but it would also be extremely hot, and I hate hot temperatures.

_You are now a Kishin- A noble class who uses blades and tomes, whose dark magic and speeds caused many to assume them to be high-ranking demons."_

So I was a promoted class now?

XXXXXXXX

_Brutus pov_

After the battle, I had dragged Cordelia to the medical tent, worried that she had somehow been injured after she was knocked off of her pegasus. I swear I'll kill that dastard Conner if it's the last thing I'll do.

"Well, she had some injuries, but they were very easy to heal. I'm surprised, Brutus! You never used to worry about these things before. Although I guess that may be because of what happened to Frederick, huh?"

The three of us had a short conversation before returning to our tents. When we went to sleep…

I found myself in an all too familiar location. I was at the peak of a mountain, with each corner having a completely different landscape. To the east, an ocean. The west, volcanes. The south, a barren desert. To the north, a tundra. The view seemed to stretch on forever, but there were no signs of non-plant life anywhere, except for the person standing in front of me."

The man looked like a mirror image, except he had no visible scars anywhere on his body and he wore a fur coat rather than a jerkin and metal plating like me.

"_Have you found the answer to the question yet? Why do you train?"_

I had once said 'because I want to be the strongest' or 'I want to fight', but now I knew it was different. "To protect others. That is the only point in strength. Even the strongest man in the world is worthless without a purpose, without something to fight for. A person could fight for any purpose and it would still be valid, so there's no true right answer for your question, but I choose to fight so that my friends are safe, and so that I may hopefully spare a few innocents from the heartbreak of war, Naga knows the people of Ylisse could use a break."

"_You are correct that there are no right answers to this question, but there are certainly wrong ones. Your older answers were most certainly wrong, but this one is absolutely valid. Look down and see the fruits of your resolve."_

I looked to see my jerkin and armor dissolving, replaced by a coat of hide and fur. The leather seemed to be as thick, if not thicker than my old armor, while even the fur lining felt rough and steely. Whatever this armor was made of, it was no ordinary animal.

"_You are now a highlander, and will find that you have a much easier time using a sword now, so you can make the proper use of Tyrfing if you so desire. - You have become an elite unit that can handle any terrain as easily as your own home. While you're slightly sluggish, your magic sucks and your resistance is a little subpar, your other parameters are higher than most units. For the most part your weaknesses can be covered well once you have learned to use both of your holy weapons properly."_

I could already tell that I was much stronger than before.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Welp, we got through those shenanigans, had an awesome entrance- by the way, for reference, look up "Persona q: the Investigation team appears, because basically the entrance- and got some characters in way earlier than they were supposed to, due to various reasons, some of which you may have already guessed. We even have two promoted characters now, woo! The next chapter, maybe the next two, will be mainly character dev before the Gangrel battle. Well, please leave a review, and see you next time!**


	17. Love in the Air

**Welp, I don't know how updates will be the next week or so. I'll try to get the next chapter quickly, but I'll have to read and find quotes for The Jungle to use in an essay, meaning I'll have little time to write.**

**Anyway, onto reviews!**

**Bun: Probably, but he's not going to tell anyone regardless of whether or not he knows. Trust me, Aquila's only getting stronger, maybe they'll win by the Grima arc, but no have to keep in mind that Aquila still hasn't promoted yet.**

**Cormag: Well, you know what the say: Words are weapons. Yep, even if they have a few more promoted units, it shouldn't matter as much since we now have Priam-Ex-Machina going on. Yeah, Julius kinda made it obvious since you know, brand, although I was kinda tempted to have it as a "Fuck it; Valkyrie Staff" moment. Instead, I chose the anticlimactic way because that can be more fun than the dramatic way sometimes.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem**

**XXXXXXX**

_Brutus pov_

"One more round." Cordelia huffed, sweat dripping down her face. She could barely stand, her legs wobbling with each step. She was very swift and powerful, but she didn't have very much. She really didn't need to, seeing as her pegasus would take care of at least half the effort, and that pegasus was much better at handling the strain than she was. They were like two halves of a whole.

"It's, fine. I've adjusted enough and we could use a break." I had been trying to adjust to using a sword for the past week or so. It had clicked very quickly, and I would be fine to carry Tyrfing into the next battle. I wasn't an expert at it yet, but I didn't need all that much experience when I was carrying such a powerful blade. I would need to work more with it later, but for the moment I was as prepared as I could be.

"Just one more." Cordelia said, taking a step forward before falling over into a roll.

"See, you're so exhausted that you're clumsier than Sumia!" While it may be considered treasonous to make quips about the future queen, Sumia herself joked about it sometimes.

"Don't, care. Must, train." Cordelia rattled out, between pants.

"Why? You are already amazing. You do need some training before you can be considered an expert, but now is certainly not the time to do it."

"I need to become stronger. Strong enough to avenge my squad, strong enough to make their sacrifices worthwhile." gods, how long had she been holding it in.

"You can't make their sacrifice worthwhile if you die too! The harder you push yourself, the more likely you are to fall in battle. That won't avenge anything, it'll only make things worse. We have already lost enough to this war, I don't want to lose you too." I saw tears streaming down her face, and quickly pulled her into an embrace. She gripped my shoulders tightly, crying into my chest for a while.

When her crying ceased, something came over me. Before I knew it, I had crashed my lips against hers. Cordelia returned the kiss, before falling back a bit.

Her eyes had closed and her breathing had gone shallow. It seemed that she had collapsed from exhaustion. I couldn't really blame her, it was extremely hot and she had refused to take off her plate armor, which made things immensely worse. It was honestly a wonder she had lasted as long as she did.

I needed to get her to a cool place, quick. The camp was about ten kilometers back, so that was out of the question, unless-

"Ferry, I know you hate letting men ride you, but can you make an exception?" The pegasus let out a neigh that sounded almost like a sigh- which she had probably learned from her rider- before turning around to let me mount. Within moments, we were in camp, and I was rushing her over to the medical tent where we kept the water.

**XXXXXXXXX**

_Martin pov_

"How do you kill with so little remorse? Some of your troops were even enjoying themselves in the last battle." I asked Flavia.

This wasn't an issue with Feroxi as much as a personal question. I was barely able to kill my first enemy, and every kill still haunts me to this day.

/ I stared at the soldier I had just felled, holding my spear over him. Did I really have to do this?

_"Yes… you have no real choice."_

But he can't do any more harm, can't I stop here?

_"If he can stand, and he can hold his weapon, then he can still kill."_

"But he's just a soldier following orders…"

_"You are a soldier as well; Naga's soldier, and it's my job to take over as commanding officer when you can't function properly. Don't you get it? Every man these soldiers kill could have been a soldier for Ylisse, every village razed a troop that could have been key to a battle, and each battle can turn a war. On the other hand; each soldier you spare may end up killing several of those potential soldiers, razing those villages, and even become a high ranking officer with just the amount of charisma to bring troops into winning battles. For all you know, this man could be a potential halberdier with the skill to finish Chrom, and we'd all be done for. It's kill or be killed, this isn't a game any more; it's a war so fight like a man or die like one of those helpless children this man has probably killed. He can do it, so can you."_

My eyes filled with tears, my vision blurring as I brought my lance down, ending a man's life./

"I suppose it is because death is a beautiful thing, despite what many think." Flavia said.

"What?"

"Well, when your country has to fight constantly to survive, your people begin to think about death. You want to fight with honor so you join the military. You soon come to the realization that you could die at any moment and that you must end the lives of others to survive, and you come to realize that the spark of life is brightest right before it goes out forever. You learn that this spark is constantly burning the brightest during the battle, because anyone can fall at any time. In these moments, you can see the true nature of a person, what is normally hidden is left exposed. It may sound strange to someone hailing from another land, but that is why we enjoy battle."

"Could I possibly join you after the war? I'd like to see this for myself."

"You are certainly welcome. With defences like yours you're practically a training dummy that stabs back! You'd probably give Raimi a run for the money, and she isn't called the iron wall of Ferox for nothing!"

In the distance, I saw Minerva tackling Blaze before licking him, as if she were a puppy. Cherche ran up with a staff to heal him before turning and nagging to Minerva about remembering her manners around people. Blaze waved her off before petting Minerva affectionately.

"Seeing things like that makes me think that I should go ahead and try to court eventually."

"How about Basillo? He seems pretty nice, if a little loud."

Flavia burst out laughing "Me? With that bald headed bastard? You're funny, Martin."

Well, I hadn't been joking, but that was okay, I guessed.

XXXXXXXXX

_Blaze pov_

"Sorry about Minerva, she gets a little excited sometimes. It's a sign that she likes you." Cherche said as she held a staff over me. She wasn't very good when it came to magic, but she still knew how to use a staff. She was a cleric before she found Minerva, after all.

I stoked behind Minerva's ears. The wyvern let out a sound similar to a purr. "As long as she doesn't breath fire on me, she's fine. Besides, it's nice having a beautiful girl fussing over me." Had I really just said that?

_"Good job, dumbass. First you get distracted by the armor then you slip up as she's healing you."_

The wound on my shoulder closed up. "There you go!" Cherche said with a bright smile.

Minerva roared at the two of us, although it was kind of a timid roar.

"Minerva?" Cherche asked, her face growing red. She had a strange talent for understanding what the wyvern was trying to convey, no matter how complicated the statement was.

"What did she say?" I asked, and Cherche's blush deepened more, becoming much darker than her pink hair. Now I was extremely curious.

"Nothing!" Cherche exclaimed, looking around frantically. "Wow!, we're almost as far as the Feroxi encampment, we're at least three miles from our camp! Let's just fly back!" She shoved me roughly onto Minerva's back before taking flight.

In the air, I looked down for a second to see two people, Gaius and Crimson from the looks of it.

_"I have an idea of what Minerva just said."_

What is it? I want to know why Cherche was so flustered.

_"That is for me to know and you to find out."_

Come on! It's your job to help me, you pendejo!

_"No, it's my job to make your life a living hell. If it was my job to help you, I would actually warn you of attacks before they come at you."_

Well, you're perfect at that job.

XXXXXXXX

_Crimson pov_

I felt Gaius' lips press mine. It wasn't for very long, but it was there. "What was that for?"

Gaius looked sheepish "Well, I've been stealing candy for all my life, and I wanted to try stealing another kind of sugar." Gaius' face began to grow red, and I felt my own heating up. Gaius looked down "That was my first time." He said in an embarrassed tone. "When you spend your life taking what you can on the run, you don't exactly get much time to bond with anyone."

"I can agree with that. Before I joined the Shepherds, the Annas were my only friend."

_"Hey! You still had me!"_

Vince, you only made things worse. "I never actually had any romantic relationships with anyone, that was my first kiss as well."

"Hehe, we're both new at this then, huh?" Gaius said with a chuckle.

"The most skilled thieves in Ylisse, yet we're both clumsy when it comes to conversation."

"I don't know, I think we do pretty well, we even have nicknames for most people."

"Yeah, we're good for a couple of socially awkward bums at least. You know, I thought you would be unbearable at first, but you're a pretty good guy for a candy thief."

"Oh come on! I apologized for that!"

"Only after I threatened to slit your throat with a rusty spoon." I pointed out.

"At least I apologized, regardless of the reasons." Gaius "We're a strange pair, huh?"

"Yeah, but that's what makes us interesting. With you added in, we can cause double the trouble for everyone else." I grinned.

"Maybe we can become a thief duo after all of this? With your skill and my lockpicking, we could pull of some huge heists."

"Hmm, maybe if you pay me back for the candy, then I'll think about it."

Gaius simply laughed, before handing me a box "Done."

I immediately hugged him out of excitement.

XXXXXXX

_Derek pov_

I sat in the middle of Anna's shop, cleaning some of the weapon stock. "What do you plan on doing after the war?" She asked in a soft voice.

"Well, I still owe you, right? Then I guess I'll stay here in the shop."

"You know I was just joking about that. Now be serious, what do you want to do after this is all over?"

"I still want to stay here. You're one of the few people in this world I can talk to about home, seeing as your family is used to the concept of alternate worlds anyway. Besides, I have always wanted to travel, and-" I cut off right there, not wanting to tell her the other reason.

"What was that? is there something you're hiding from me?" Anna teased as she wrapped her arms around me.

"Let go of me!" I yelled, struggling to get her off. While Anna looked a little frail, she was much stronger than she appeared. In fact, she was stronger than pretty much all of the unpromoted units, otherwise known as all but about ten members of the Ylissean army and about two Feroxi. And that was only in terms of strength; she still out sped almost anyone as well and could use a little magic.

"Not until you either tell me or pay me." She said in a singsong voice.

"I am not telling you shit and I am completely broke!"

"Then you'll just have to deal with it, because I'm not gonna let go."

We kept going like this for a while, until I tripped and we both fell into one of the weapons racks, leaving us in a very awkward position. "I blame you." I said to Anna, whose face was now within an inch of my own.

"Well maybe if you weren't so stubborn we wouldn't be in this position." She pouted, looking absolutely adorable. My heart began to pound so quickly that I began to worry Anna would catch on.

_"Now's your chance! Kiss her dammit!"_

While that was a very tempting idea, it would probably be a dangerous one, seeing as we were currently in a pile of weapons. While typically they wouldn't harm anyone who just touched them, the other blades added a lot of extra weight so it would have a fair chance of at least scratching something.

I heard someone knock at the door "It's not another Jehovah's witness, is it?" I heard Dolce laughing as Libra asked her what a Jehovahs witness was. She thought I was joking, but one had actually come to the shop last month. Somehow they managed to find an outrealm gate on Earth and travel all the way to Ylisse with it. I didn't particularly mind the idea of Christianity being spread in Ylisse, seeing as it was more familiar to me than the religions here, but considering how this world treated other religions we'd probably have another war on our hands and that was certainly not a good thing.

"No." Dolce yelled through the door, still laughing.

"Then come on in."

XXXXXXXX

_Dolce pov_

I walked into the store to see a strange sight: Anna on top of Derek, covered in a pile of weapons. "Are we interrupting something? Maybe we should leave."

"This is an… interesting sight." Libra stated, keeping a calm voice but obviously losing his composure.

"No! We need some help over here." Derek said in a voice muffled by Anna's hair and the humongous pile.

We both went over towards them, picking up the weapons and putting them onto the original rack. The ordeal took close to an hour to complete, longer than we had initially spend in the store. When we got them all off, Anna brushed the dust of of her clothes before giving us a smile.

"So, what are you two looking for? We have some nice two-person cots and some gorgeous bouquets of flowers."

"I believe we are looking for something a little less intimate, at least something a little less intimate with each other and more so with Naga. My book of scripture didn't survive the trip through the desert, and I was looking for another copy." Libra said, forgetting a few things.

I cleared my throat loudly "And supplies for a makeshift altar and pews. Nothing fancy, just enough to complete the job."

"Yes, that as well." LIbra sighed, annoyed that he had forgotten.

"So why did you bring Dolce with you? You don't particularly need anyone to help with a short, simple service, and that's all you will be able to do at the moment."

"Well manaketes are sometimes considered holy beings, especially those who serve Naga.I would have brought Nowi as well, but she's a little… youthful."

"I also need to be here to make sure he doesn't forget anything" I joked.

"I resent that." Libra said in a slightly indignant voice.

"Oh, you know I'm joking Libra!" I laughed.

"Are you two sure you don't want any of my mattresses? They're 50% off and I'll even throw in a few scented candles for you to spend a nice evening." Anna winked at us "If you know what I mean." I felt my face heat up rapidly, and hunched over in an attempt to hide my blush.

"I think we'll be fine with just the supplies, thank you." Libra said, paying before we turned to leave the store.

"Come back if you ever change your minds about the mattress!" Anna yelled, and Derek said something about her driving customers away.

XXXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

"You know, you need to leave the tent sometime Kira. Even I have been out recently." Chrom lectured me.

"Only because Khrow came to drag you out." I pointed out. There was one thing I wanted to do that would involve leaving, but I would need to be able to sneak into a Plegian

village to do that.

Chrom sighed I thought you would say that," his expression changed to a smirk "that's why I brought a little backup."

"Hello Kira!" I heard a familiar voice as Robin walked in alongside one of the cloaked children. I assumed it was Mark, but with his hood covering him as well as it did there were only a few noticeable differences between him and Morgan, and they were rather awkward to look for. It was still a good guess to say it was Mark, because he was always either playing chess with his mother or sparring with his father. Morgan was the only other person his age besides the man-child that was Ricken, and they couldn't handle each other's company constantly, so the two spent much of their time with their parents. It was a wonder that none of them had caught on to the children's identity. Well, Priam probably knew, and Aversa may have as well since she had met Grima before, but they hid it very well.

"What are we doing?" I sighed, relenting to my fate.

Robin handed me a black cloak. "We're going to the nearest village to get you to a jewelry store. That is what you wanted to do right? For when she wakes up?" How did she know? Oh, right. Tactician, I almost forgot. "Oh, and these five will be coming too." Cassius, Aelia, and Agrona came, followed by Kyouko and Marcus who were walking hand in hand.

"You're bringing all of them with us as well? What's next? Will Gregor and Dylan show up asking for money in an exchange for them to 'escort' us?"

"Well, those two are sparring with handso- er, Priam. Besides, you and Emmeryn were there when Stahl went."

"That was two extra people, not a small squadron!" I let out a loud sigh "Fine, I give. So how have you been?" We continued to catch up as we made our way to the store.

**XXXXXXXX**

**And there we have it. It's not my best work, seeing as I'm not used to these types of scenes and it didn't have that much action, but I needed to get it out of the way. Next is the Gangrel fight, which I have something amazing planned for. The only issue will be balancing out the scenes so I don't have too short or too long a chapter.**


	18. Wild Wild War

**Well, that was really quick. Probably the most writing I've ever done in such a small span. This will most likely be the last one for a bit, since what little time I'll have to write next week will go towards the next chapter of Star Emblem, which will probably be pretty freaking big.**

**Reviews:**

**Chasti: It depends on how you look at it. While Cherche is crazy over Minerva, like most pet enthusiasts she will still worry if she does something wrong, such as clawing her friend or roaring at the pegasi for absolutely no reason. As for the blushing which may be a little OOC, it is due to what Minerva was trying to convey, which most people would get embarrassed over. The reason Blaze's shadow didn't translate was because he would probably fall off the wyvern. **

**Pyro: hmm, maybe the term you're looking for is drama? Actually, I don't know a good term for it, so let's call it fluff, enough to fill a pillow.**

**Cormag: She only eats people who she doesn't like or who smell like pegasus. Libra isn't stepping into that store for a long time. I have something even better for Gaius and Crimson, which Derek and Anna will be a part of-**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem**

**XXXXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

We stood at the end of a large battlefield. On the other end was a massive force of Plegian soldiers, including a fair number of promoted units, but not nearly as many as we'll be facing when the grimleal war begins. This will be a difficult battle, but will they still fight after Gangrel falls? The Plegians blame us for the death of Mustafa, so there is no way to really tell where the enemy soldiers stand.

Brutus took off the pendant that Frederick had given him and handed it to Cordelia "Here. I'll give you this if you promise me one thing: You will live through the battle and return it to me."

"Fine, I won't do anything too reckless." She responded.

"Too reckless?"

"I won't do anything reckless." Cordelia sighed.

Khrow cleared his throat loudly "Blaze, are you ready for your end of the plan?" Blaze nodded "Okay then, Chrom?"

Chrom stood at the front, preparing a speech "This is the day we have been waiting for! All of our efforts, all of our casualties, everything, has come to this one battle. We can either end the war here, or fail and have the war drag on. If we don't finish things here, then we may not finish at all. And with that, we must start the siege."

Blaze stepped out to the front, starting to channel a spell, gathering water vapors and forming small droplets. It was a tome that Khrow had thought up, Blaze began the creation of, and I added the finishing touches to. By adding bits and pieces of fire text to a blizzard tome, you could create a new, mixed branch: water. This particular tome had been dubbed Leviathan by Blaze and I. The only drawback was that it had a longer cast time, since the development was too rushed for us to perfect it.

The droplets came together, forming a large stream. I unleashed devil speed and began running towards it. As Blaze released the spell, I leapt on to it and rode with the stream. Parts of the stream fell early on as the stream went, but since the tome was built to cover the length of the area there would be enough to carry most of the way. There were about four rows of soldiers left when it deteriorated too much for me to stay in. I leapt off, using both the force of the magic and the agility gained from my trump to leap towards Gangrel. I landed within twenty meters of him, although there were still some soldiers closer that were closer to me.

One of them turned to face me, but Gangrel waved the man off and yelled "Don't worry about him, I will take out the trash my self. With a swing of his levin sword, an arc of electricity was sent my way. I had no issue dodging, as the attack lost its speed over such a long distance, but I knew that it would be much more dangerous once I got within a closer range.

At least the attacks only looked like electricity. They were raw, elementless magic, so I didn't have to worry about my soaked clothes getting me killed. If anything, I would be able to put up a better fight this way, since I was kept cool.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

_Khrow pov_

So Kira recklessly leapt in to use Leviathan to reach our target sooner? After the battle, I would have to either discharge him for doing something so reckless or give him a medal for actually thinking of that. Probably the latter, seeing as very few people in our army didn't have something extremely reckless that they did on a regular basis. Vaike never wore armor, Donnel had his pot instead of a helmet, Virion wore his stiff clothing, wow I probably should have set a dress code for the Shepherds before someone got themselves killed. There was also Henry, who while being an amazing dark mage, kinda went overboard with killing the enemy. Even now he was sending murders of crows at those who would have the least resistance. Oh well, I would have to handle all that later, it was time to fight now.

I watched as Brutus squared off with a sage. He drew Tyrfing as a blast of Rexcalibur came in, taking the attack easily due to the blade's innate magic resistance. The attack would normally have left him seriously wounded, but now he had little more than a scratch on him.

Brutus charged forward, lopping off the sage's head with a single deft blow. The sage wasn't exactly strong for a promoted unit, but he had been more than several of our number could have taken. In fact, with Maribelle staying at the camp, Robin, Aversa, Morgan, and Lissa were the only promoted magic units we had. Morgan was a rather strange one, she and Mark had not so much as lowered their hoods since the entered the camp, and they gave me a strange feeling that I couldn't place when I saw them.

I clashed blades with a swordmaster. The instant I deflected his blow, he came back with another strike that I had to dodge. I struck, and the swordmaster simply ducked out of the way before unleashing the flurrying strikes of Astra, landing a few minor grazes on me. As the attack finished, I managed to sink a blade into his neck before he could dodge. While swordmasters were extremely fast, they didn't really have much in the way of armor, and could be felled very easily with a strike, maybe two if you were weak or were using a poorly made sword.

Priam and Aversa were felling foes left and right, as if they were nothing. I guess that made some sense, considering they were both in a league of their own, at least compared to our own experience. The rest of us were fighting off foes at varying levels of ease. The unpromoted enemy units were going down with only a little effort from our end, but very few of us could hold up against the promoted units.

Next to Priam was Robin, who used her thunder magic to fry her enemies from a distance, and to pick off those that didn't fall to the first hulking strike Priam left. In battle, there were always those strange cases in which the enemy kept going after taking one or even multiple fatal wounds, and one of the good things about thunder magic was that it stopped the flow of adrenaline, preventing such strange occurrences. Despite that, I had actually heard of quite a few cases in which people had kept going after taking multiple thorons to the heart and lungs, and even one in which a person to a Mjolnir blast to the skull, so anything can happen. Nevertheless, it was still a good advantage.

All in all, we were holding up much better than we would have under normal circumstances. Leviathan had caused massive amounts of erosion, and hardened the sand, causing the new landscape to be almost as foreign to the Plegians as it was to us. This took away one of the major advantages the Plegians had over our forces, terrain. There were, however, still the advantages of numbers and a large troop of promoted units. Luckily, the weakest members of the Plegian empire were mere conscripts, and fell easily against one who was properly trained, as the vast majority of our units were. In addition, many of the enemy soldiers seemed to be wary of fighting us for some reason. The only reason the army was holding itself together was on the lie that we had killed Mustafa, and it seemed that many of the soldiers doubted the rumors. They knew that Mustafa had held reservation on his thoughts of the kings, and there were conspiratorial whispers that Gangrel had the general killed for treason and made into a martyr to hold a strong fighting force to guard himself with.

The field began to shake loudly, and everyone on both sides stopped for a moment, other than Kira and Gangrel who continued fighting without noticing. When I looked, I saw a large troop of soldiers, with a legion of what seemed to be villagers gathered along the way. The Feroxi were supposed to keep any troops from providing reinforcements, had they fallen?

Wait, they were carrying the banner of Mustafa's troops. These were the men who had been forced to watch as their own leader was killed, and who were blamed for his death, on the grounds of being bribed by us. It was pretty much obvious that many of the villagers refused to believe this, as they were traveling with the man. I couldn't say their numbers for certain, but they seemed to be well into the four figures, a very formidable force.

At this sight, some of the men who had doubted Gangrel's rumor began to turn on their allies. These men were led by a myrmidon. Wait, that was the guy Kira had befriended from Vasto's troop, and it seemed that the other survivors were with him as well. While most of the soldiers were still fighting for Gangrel, there were still the yells of "The mad king must fall" and "Being a traitor is better than the rabid dog of a tyrant." and it seemed that the king had fallen from grace in the eyes of many.

Despite this, the battle still wasn't over. Those that remained, believing the king's lies, fought with renewed vigor. Even the weakest conscripts were fighting as if they were mid-level units, and the strongest among them were giving even Priam a run for his money. They now had less than five hundred, and weren't even a quarter of our size, but they were still putting up a good fight. Several of the ones who had taken wounds, lost limbs and had even had vital organs pierced kept going as long as they could carry themselves. The men just laughed in the face of death, killing as many of the 'traitors' as they could, paying much less attention to the Ylisseans that they had meant to fight originally.

We had taken out at least half the enemy numbers, although it was very difficult to tell at the moment, and were still going strong when -

"Must you all continue to fight? What reason could any of you have for fighting your own, whether loyal or traitor?" Suddenly, a face very familiar to both sides appeared on the field, Emmeryn. Just as she had before, she held a radiant glow that seemed to hold the eyes of all that saw her. "War has plagued both of our sides for far too long, can you just give up for once? It doesn't have to be like this."

At that moment, something amazing had happened. Those who were still fighting dropped their weapons. Many of the Plegian men began talking to each other, apologizing for what they had done to each other, some catching up on old times, and beginning preparations for the burial of the fallen soldiers. It was as if a veil of insanity had been pulled off of the soldiers. I guessed Gangrel hadn't been called the 'Mad King' for nothing, and it seemed his madness plagued many of the soldiers.

Emmeryn gazed off to the distance. I followed her gaze, seeing Chrom standing over the corpse of Gangrel, and- oh gods.

XXXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

I dodged a blast from Gangrel's blade, closing in and getting a light jab in his left shoulder. I had done very little, as the blade didn't sink very deeply and the shoulder I had hit only aided him in getting a little momentum, it wasn't used for holding a blade, shield, or anything particularly important.

Before I could pull back and get a proper guard, Gangrel swung his blade, and I dodged as well as I could, getting a gash on my own left shoulder.

I quickly got in another two quick jabs, not hitting anything important but at least causing some minor damage.

This time, I was prepared to block his attack, but I was still sent flying backwards as he activated the blade's magic. I rode the blast for several feet, not taking any wound, at least none that were external. I may have pulled something due to strain, but I couldn't tell. The adrenaline flowing through me at the moment was enough to stop me from feeling such simple pain. I had to be careful, while my blade could take damn near anything, I most certainly could not.

I kept dodging Gangrel's attacks as well as I could and getting close when possible, but I was unable to do much damage and I was taking just as much as I was dishing out. I was going to need a different strategy altogether if I was to stand a chance.

Luckily, I had a backup plan prepared in advance.

"_Good thing I told you he'd probably be stronger than he was in his chapter in-game, huh?"_

Yes, thank you for that one Shade. I pulled out a silver sword as I jumped over a blast, held it by the blade and channeled wind magic. I threw the weapon, the wind magic allowing it to move at a much faster blade. Gangrel blocked, and the hilt of the blade collided with the edge of Gangrel's.

The sheer impact of the attack left several small cracks within Gangrel's blade, and when he tried to launch another blast it merely shattered. Gangrel was now forced to draw his secondary weapon.

Unfortunately for me, Gangrel's secondary weapon just happened to be a killing edge.

"Now tell me, why do you fight me with the hatred you have?" Gangrel inquired, knowing he had plenty of time before the others could catch up.

"You have been razing villages for a good few years now, killing innocents! You killed almost every pegasus knight in Ylisse, and you tried to execute someone I hold dear!" My voice grew into a snarl as I said that last one.

"No worse than the Ylisseans have done to us. How much do you think I lost?" Gangrel scoffed at me, before continuing. "You are angry for my attempted execution of the Exalt, when the last exalt killed my father in cold blood! In that war, we were not given the luxury of having a cutoff age for joining the military like both sides do now. I was forced to join the military when I was as young as the Forseti wielder, Ricken I believe. I watched as hundreds of our soldiers were killed each day. I won't even try to pretend that we took all the damage, the Ylisseans fell just as often, but both of our problems were due to the exalted line! I hold no hatred for the current exalt, just for the line itself. Any line will produce its good and bad, but the exalted line is worse than any other, and we must weed out the rotten plants in the crop if we are to survive! That is why I must fight tooth and nail to win this war!"

"I feel sorry for you, but that does not permit the bullshit you have been spouting! One rotten apple is not proof of the bitterness of an entire line!" I threw a massive blast of wind at Gangrel, who merely ducked under it mid stride.

He charged towards me, slashing outwards with his blade. I dodged and came back and lashed out with a wind charged blade, getting a large gash, just barely short of a killing blow. When I pulled back to my original position I noticed a strange feeling in my wrist, most likely a cramp of some sort. I didn't have time to look at it yet, but I would check later.

I launched another attack, aimed at the area I had already wounded, however, Gangrel was too fast for me. Within an instant, I had a killing edge buried in the left side of my chest, most likely piercing my heart.

Gangrel kicked me to help pull his blade out, and I felt an immense pain as it dragged along the inside of my chest. If the initial wound hadn't been enough to kill me, the damage it did between the pull and the impact on the ground surely did.

As I fell, I saw the blade of the Falchion pierce through Gangrel's back and exit through his chest. Gangrel fell over, and Chrom turned the mad king onto his back and struck with his heavy boot, crushing the man's throat. Well, we definitely aren't getting that spotpass. Chrom must have been even more pissed at Gangrel than he normally would have been, but I guess that makes sense under the circumstances.

Chrom rushed over to me "Kira! Hold on, I'll get you a healer as soon as we can."

"Chrom, the battle's still going, leave me and help the others." I waved him off with my left hand, and realized that the 'cramp' I had felt earlier was a missing hand, leaving me with a nub. I guess it didn't matter that much now, seeing as I wouldn't live long enough to need that hand anyway.

"I'm not leaving until we get you a healer! We need you to make it through this!"

"Chrom, our only healer is in the midst of a battle right now, she won't make it in time. Even if she did, I don't think she would be able to save me."

"But we need you here! What the hell am I supposed to say to-"

"Tell Emmeryn I'm sorry. I didn't make it through the war, but at least she's still here. You'll manage just fine without me." My eyelids grew heavy, I just wanted to close them and rest. I saw a familiar flash of green and smiled. It was painful, yet it still felt good. I guess it was because it had been so long since I had actually smiled like this.

The soldiers began to drop their weapons at her words. Count on Emmeyn to stop a battle within another battle. I chuckled, my chest hurting from the action.

Emmeryn looked at me, and I could almost have sworn that I saw tears in her eyes.

_I'm sorry_, I thought as my vision began to blur. _If only I could have made one less mistake, lasted a minute longer, I would be able to be with you again. I'm not going to be here anymore, but I trust you to take things over_. And with that, everything faded to black.

**XXXXXXXX**

**And there's the conclusion to arc 1, well sort of. There's still the resolution in the next chapter but I consider this the conclusion since it's the last full chapter of the arc. Next is the timeskip which I really hope isn't too long, since I'd like to get to the things people are waiting for, which honestly is probably after Valm for most of you anyway. See you next time, and please leave a review!**


	19. Rasputin

**Woo! I'm back!**

**Review answers:**

**Ace: Hmm, we may have to look into this. We are too similar. Who are you kidding? Aquila is an earthbender, just look at his root attacks!**

**Chasti: Just wait a couple chapters, that's when the important deaths happen.**

**Pyro: Edward Elric mode activate!**

**Cormag: Yeah, all that action was awkward for me, as you probably noticed(literally, pure weakness for me), yay for FE4 players! Also, water magic sadly won't show up too much, because the concept behind it is only decent against Plegia, but hey, that can screw up some grimleal fights**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem or Nintendo**

**XXXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

Feeling slowly began to return to my body, and my vision slowly changed from a dark blur into the normal setting. It felt as if I was waking up from an extremely deep sleep, and as such I was still very groggy.

I was in… Plegia? Well that was a lot better than what I was expecting. I looked around, my vision still too blurry to make out the faces of those huddled around me. There were several voices talking, but they were so distorted I would have had an easier time deciphering Chon'sin. Suddenly a green blur rushed towards me.

My vision focused, my senses returning to normal as I felt Emmeryn's arms wrap around me. "I thought you were gone." I heard her whisper as she buried her face into my chest. I could feel her tears running through the torn part of my cloak.

Robin and Khrow shared a smirk with each other before turning towards me. "There are better places to sleep than on the ground, you know?" The two said in unison which smiles on their faces. Chrom chuckled at this, although it seemed to be more from relief than from the jest.

"Don't do something so reckless again." Emmeryn told me, her voice cracking.

"Now you know how I've felt for the past month. Wow, has it really been only a month? It feels like it's been years." I ran my good hand through her hair, and I would have held her closer with the other but well, it ended at the wrist, not exactly good for holding onto something.

Emmeryn pulled away for a moment, staring into my eyes. "Promise." She stared directly into my soul, refusing to budge on the matter until I swore off my reckless stunts.

_"But our reckless gambits make us who we are!"_

Oh come on, it's not that big a deal, Shade.

I reached into my pocket. "Here is your promise." I pulled out a small black box, flipping it open to show the ring inside. It wasn't much, just a plain silver band with an exceedingly small stone on it, but it was all I could afford. "I know I don't have much, but will you-"

I felt Emmeryn's lips press against mine, and I lost all train of thought. She pulled away, giving the response of "Of course" as she took the ring out and placed it on her finger. A chorus of cheers resounded around us, even from the Plegians. Wow, there weren't many Plegians left. It seemed that most of the casualties were on their part, and I would have been among the few deaths on our side.

On that note "How did I even survive that?" I asked to no person in particular.

Maribelle stepped forward, holding out a strange staff. Right, the Valkyrie staff, she was a Blaggi. Brady was going to be a monster when it came to magic, seeing as he has two major holy blood lines, one giving him the power to bring things back to life and the other letting him reap life as if it were grain for the harvest. "This staff grants each of its wielders the opportunity to bring a single person back to life. However, we'll have to make you a prosthetic hand, appendages were not mentioned in the contract therefore the staff will not regrow them." Guess that means I was now Edward Elric

_"You'd have to lose a leg as well first."_

"And you chose me? Why not save it for, say, Chrom"

"Well, your death would greatly dampen the morale of the men who have been cheering your name through the streets of Ylisse recently. Besides, we can just replace Chrom with one of the tacticians seeing as they do all the work anyway." Maribelle looked teasingly at Chrom. While she could be snobby and held a firm grip on her manners, she had deemed it fit to forgo her etiquette for the sake of being a nuisance to Chrom.

"You know, I'm going to be exalt in a few months, I could easily take away your nobility." Wait, what? Why is Chrom going to be exalt when Emmeryn's still here?

Emmeryn caught on to my confusion "I stepped down as Exalt. I can't stand the idea of declaring another war, but against another my hesitation would have gotten us killed. Chrom has his faults, but he will not hesitate to fight if needed."

"And Chrom's thoughts on the matter?"

"Admittedly, he was not very excited to take on the job, especially since I had handled the nation's matters for so many years, but he accepted the post after some encouragement from the other shepherds."

"Oh well." I wrapped my fingers around hers, and rested my head on her shoulder, still tired from the resurrection "That just means we won't have to deal with the court as much, and I'll have you to myself more often." Emmeryn smiled at this.

After getting a full report on casualties and signing a treaty made by the remainder of Plegia's soldiers, we all returned to camp.

XXXXXXXX

_Conner pov_

I began to walk through the now-abandoned battlefield. There was a strong scent of iron filling the air that would sicken most, but I had grown to enjoy as a coping mechanism within the vast military prison Gangrel had once been thrown in.

I came across the corpse of my once captor, later employer. The corpse's throat had been caved in, meaning that it could be decapitated easily, but a little plate armor could fix that.

I began to work the dark magic that Grima had granted me, turning the corpses on the battlefield into an efficient but mismatched fighting force of risen. While the group was nothing particularly wonderful about the group itself, Gangrel was a diamond in the rough. He could be turned into a deadlord, and would fight at a level of skill beyond what he ever would have attained as a human.

I almost felt bad for turning all of these men into slaves.

"_They are all just cogs in our machine, especially the Mad King. We are ripping apart their thrones of gold to make ones of bone for ourselves! The end of this world will only be the beginning of our reign, and Grima will even let us take it for ourselves. He does have another target in mind, after all."_

That is true, I guess.

I turned around at the sound of a sword being drawn. In front of me was a taguel, most likely a half breed, holding two Chon'sinean blades in his hands; one long, one short. It was the same one who had fought against me in castle Ylisse.

"You are rather brave, stepping into a field of risen. Unless, of course, you simply didn't see them?" The man had taken his blindfold off, showing his milky, sightless eyes.

"Don't worry, I could smell that stench and hear the moaning from a mile away."

I drew my blade. "I won't sic my soldiers on you, but I would like to know why you were so intent on coming to fight me."

"One should not need to give you a reason, but very well." The man pulled his blades into a fighting stance "If it were not for you, my mother would still be alive! If it were not for you, my teacher would still be by my side." Tears glistened on the rims of his eyes, and he shouted the next phrase furiously "Trash like you are a cancer upon this world I must cut you off before you grow too large to remove."

The young man rushed at me, unleashing a flurry of blades. Wait, the boy was a taguel, so he must have been one of the future children. He used astra; could the boy's teacher have been that myrmidon girl from Ylisse? Moreover, there was the fact that I had recently been courting a cleric that I had met in the grimleal. In addition, the boy could read all of my attacks as if he had seen them hundreds of times in the past.

I wasn't going to win with just my normal attacks, so I switched to my trump. I couldn't just learn a new style instantly, but I could overpower the enemy. I brought down my blade with both hands, using as much force as possible. The boy crossed his blades together in an attempt to deflect the attack, but was unable to push my blade back.

I kicked the boy to the ground and put my blade at his throat, drawing blood. "I'm not exactly fond of the idea of killing my own son, but I will do it if I must. Leave now and train for the next time we meet, or stay here and become just another of these risen." I lifted my blade, and watched as he fled with his tail between his legs, literally.

I had a kid, huh? It felt rather strange, seeing as I wasn't planning on settling down anytime soon. There was a cute valkyrie over in Plegia, but that was only a fling, right?

XXXXXXXX

_Aquila pov_

I hastily brought up my staff as Jamie's blow connected. In most cases I would have simply used my hand, but Jaimie was among the few who could pierce through my defenses with her sheer strength.

I retaliated by hurling a small slab of stone towards her, although she was able to avoid the attack with her gryphon. I launched a barrage of roots toward her, which she maneuvered through with grace, taking only a few minor scratches.

Jaimie unleashed another strike, although this time I had a much better plan in mind. Knowing what was coming, I sidestepped and used my roots to grab the blade as the attack was losing force.

The only way she could get out of it would be to drop her blade and try to fight me with just her gauntlets, and not even someone as crazy as her would do something like that. I brought my staff up, bringing the bladed end to her throat.

"You're no fun." Jaimie pouted rather cutely "I haven't beaten you once yet!"

"It's surprising that you did as well as you did. Aside from myself, you have the least experience out of us. Even so, you keep up just as well, if not better than the others. Conner can be ahead of me with his trump, but if I can hold out he's done for afterwards. Koto's wounds heal faster than I can make them, but once she has one of her fits, she's out of commision. You have a weakness, but not one that I can exploit. That's something to be proud of."

"You still aren't any fun." Jaimie continued to pout, but she began to crack a little.

"Anyway, you know Chom's going to be married in about four months, give or take, right? Are you still going to try to make him and Frederick be 'together forever'?"

"Well, I honestly don't know, but without that, what would I focus on?"

"How about you focus on us?"

"Huh?"

"Think about it. We have the opportunity to free this entire world. Who knows what will happen afterwards? There will be no established rule remaining, we could be the kings that lead these lost people out of the darkness. The four of us have all the power anyone could ask for, why would we squander it? What we could never have had back in the old world will be in our hands in no time! In the eyes of the people, we will become saviors and destroyers, judge and jury, redemption and damnation! After we return the risen to normal, they will have to cling to a new faith in the lack of the old one, and we will lead the way!"

"I'll admit, it does sound like a fantastic goal when you put it that way." Jaimie conceded, although she squirmed around a little in her nervousness. "So where would I be in all this? You will most certainly be considered a king, but what about me, or Conner and Koto for that matter? Will we just be left out of your ideal world when they only follow you?"

I grasped her hand "I would never be able to do something like that by myself. I don't know what will happen to Conner and Koto, but I will do everything in my power for them. They are among the blessed, and they must have their own places, but you're the one I worry about."

"What? Why me? I thought you hated me, especially with those comments of 'that damned yaoi fangirl'. You found me annoying, and thought me to be a waste of space! Don't even try to say anything different. I know that you only reached out to me for the sake of forming a strong team bond, and that you constantly talked about me behind my back. What happened to all of that?"

"Those sentiments disappeared once I actually got to know you." Jaimie froze at this "Yes, I thought you to be annoying, and held only hate for you at first. However, when I started talking to you I realized how amazing you were. You are beautiful inside and out, you aren't crazy, just traumatized. In fact, your reaction was probably more realistic than mine. When I came here, I just thanked every god I could think of that I didn't have to stay there anymore. No longer was I the weak, poor boy who was constantly beaten down when he brought himself back up. The walls of my heart had become part of my actual defences and I gained all the strenth that I had wished I had back then. I lived in a fantastic illusion, and you were the one who anchored me back to the truth. If I am to be a king of the new world, then I wish for you to become my queen."

I felt Jaimie wrap her arms around me "I would love that. You did help me to recover, albeit slowly. If I can trust anyone, it would certainly be you." I wondered what Grimleal would think of the pairig of his workers? Actually, I doubted he would care about any of that, he was pretty laid back until someone mentioned either Marth or the divine dragons.

XXXXXXXXX

_Kira pov, 3 months later._

I rested my head on my desk for a moment, trying to deal with my stress. In addition to the paperwork for mine and Emmeryn's new jobs as ambassadors, I had to file paperwork for the creation of the intelligence agency and keep track of letters from Martin, Blaze, Cherche, and Virion, they were considered shepherds despite having important posts in office for other countries, so it was my job as ambassador to watch over their health, making me wish we had more offices in our branch to hold actual embassies for such work. In a normal case, Emmeryn would be able to help, but the maids were currently fussing over her hair, as well as Lissa and Sumia. The wedding ceremonies for all members of the royal family would be on the same day, and become a holiday for the citizens to a symbol of hope. Luckily Chrom could help, since one of his powers as the new Exalt was the ability to threaten people with Falchion without the need to worry over the court's response, as he could simply banish them anyway. However, he was swamped with paperwork involving the restoration of the military and the full revival of Ricken's house as part of Ylissean nobility, and the creation of minor noble titles for the other shepherds.

I heard a knock at the door and went to answer, grumbling as I went. When I opened it, I saw Khrow, although there was something off about him.

"Hello Kira, I'd like to give you an early wedding present." 'Khrow' said in a distorted voice, revealing himself as Grima. I would have to hire more competent guards, granted Khrow terrified them anyway so they probably didn't find the demon voice to be out of place.

I drew Yamikiri, pointing it at his throat "What the hell do you want?"

Grima grabbed the tip and moved it away from himself "I merely wish to bring congratulations to one of the most formidable adversaries I have met. In the other time, you surprised me very much when you pulled out the tome that had banished my father. Despite the physical and emotional pain, it was a thrill."

"You're not here to kill anyone?"

"Please, I'm not the monster your precious game made me out to be, it didn't even explain why I wished to kill the humans. I hold no hatred for humans, merely disdain. It's the divine dragons and those that side with them that I have a real problem with."

"You do realize I'm engaged to one of Marth's kin, right?"

"As do my children, it seems. Had I come back sooner, I would have tried to recruit you to our side. It would almost be like having an extra Aquila, except more frail and much faster. But that is beside the point, there are two things I wish to say to you."

"And those are?"

"One, I want to ask that you take good care of my children. They may wish to fight me, but I wish them the best. And two, while I am still in one of my good moods, and you do not want to see my bad moods, I wish to give you this." Grima handed me a box. "You two will enjoy it, I remember you mentioning in the other time that they were Emmeryn's favorite." And with that, Grima opened a dark portal, and left towards Plegia, or Hell, the two were very similar, as even Tharja and Henry can agree with.

I opened the box. Inside was a box of chocolates with a note attached saying 'Have a nice wedding!'. Underneath that was a waffle iron -it was a wonder to look at some of the things mages had invented without the milestone of electricity. In fact, the prosthetic I had felt almost as natural as my old hand, in motion at least. The difference was easily noticeable when it brushed against something- with a note that said 'P.S. I know about your little in-joke.'.

I wasn't sure whether to be thankful that such a creature would find the kindness in his heart to get this or wonder how little the fourth wall affected him. Well, I shouldn't have been surprised, considering all the references Henry understood. When asked about it, he had said that the reason he kept his eyes closed was because they had seen too much.

Ugh, the rest of my journey would be a confusing one.

**XXXXXXXX**

**Well, Grima was… interesting to write, to say the least. The timeskip is now off to a start! I'll try to keep it at no longer than six chapters, but who knows? Also, kids will be happening next chapter yay!**


	20. Ceremonies

**Reviews:**

**Pyro: Hell yeah for badass family reunions! Also, Grima won't show up too much outside of the timeskip arc, but you'll notice some differences between him and his in-game self. Within a short while, those who have played other FEs will probably be piecing together some of his backstory, such as his ancestry.**

**Cormag: He's an Earth Dragon who can drag people's souls into another body from another freaking world, I feel like this is the most sense he has made thus far. Rules just don't apply to Dragons, and the same goes for wealthy people and those with green hair.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem, I only own OCs and not even the majority of those.**

**XXXXXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

I sighed as I leaned into my chair. We were at the wedding reception for Emmeryn and I, as well as Chrom and Lissa, and I was completely exhausted. I still can't believe we actually managed to do all three ceremonies in a single day, altogether it had been a full day since they had begun.

It was also the anniversary of the day that the Plegians had first attempted to take Emmeryn, as well as the day that Medeus was sealed away. We had picked the date as a symbol of hope for the people, although if we kept having things like this happening on this date then schools would start needing to make massive "This day in history" lectures over it.

At the moment, Emmeryn, Chrom, and Lissa were currently being swarmed by distant relatives. They had sent Lon'qu, Sumia, and I to go ahead to see the other shepherds, since they knew the three of us couldn't follow the conversation and we could hold off on getting to know the family until everything had died down and we weren't so exhausted.

" You look exhausted, Boss." Gaius said, waving me back into the conversation. "Was the bachelor party I threw you and Mister Super Swordsman too much for you?"

"You mean when you started 'making it hail' by throwing gold coins at tavern wenches while Lon'qu and I sat there judging you? Why do you call me boss anyway? Wouldn't that be a better title for Chrom?"

"Blue wasn't the one who put the intelligence agency together. It gave me something better to do than steal, and you gave me good co-workers as well." I had managed to get the agency started up just a week ago, led by Gaius, Crimson, Derek, and Anna.

On that note, the past few months had caused great changes within the army. Pretty much all of the Shepherds had been promoted, with Crimson now being an assailant and Derek a gambler.

"Well, you kept bothering all of the merchants, especially that one that you and Crimson stole the raisin bread from, it wasn't his fault you hated that stuff! Besides, you need the cash flow so you can get your fiance an actual ring." Gaius had decided to propose to Crimson with a freaking ring pop. While yes, Crimson loved it, she needed a ring that would last more than two minutes.

"One that you better be buying from us." Derek said, walking up with Anna. The two had also been engaged recently, although Anna slapped him for buying the ring from someone else's store before she said yes.

"I could just steal one, you know." Gaius retorted, eliciting laughter from Anna.

"Like you'd be able to get by me." Anna said with a wicked grin "As I've said before, prices aren't the only thing I'm good at cutting."

"Can't cut what you can't catch" Gaius replied with a cocky grin.

The two kept on with their banter, and I turned towards Dylan, not wanting to interrupt the two. "So how have you and Gregor been. You've been on risen patrol, right? How are your new abilities suiting you?" She had been promoted to Holy crusader about a month ago after we defeated the last of the dark crusaders that were plaguing her. The thing had taken the form of the Reaper from Persona 3, and took a hell of a lot more than four of us to defeat.

"I'm doing well." Dylan replied "I've been remembering things bit by bit, I even know how I died now." She smiled despite the grimness of the statement.

"Oh? Are you perhaps fine with sharing it? None of us know of our fate, so it would be interesting to hear." It was very dark, but the lack of knowledge of my death left a hole in my memory that often nagged me. I had grown used to this world over time, but I still longed for home at times.

Dylan nodded "My family's house burned down, and I got trapped inside the house. Before anyone could get to me, one of the support beams fell, crushing me." Small tears began to form in her eyes "I was the only casualty."

"I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have pressed…"

Dylan wiped a tear from her eye before shaking her head. "It's okay, I've had some time to deal with the memory, It's hard, but I just have to remember what Gregor told me. This place is home now, and it's certainly grown on me."

"So, where's Gregor?" I said, hoping to get her mind off the matter.

Dylan smiled, thankful for the change. "He talked the guards into paying him to help." She giggled.

"That's probably a good thing. I still need to talk to Khrow about changing out the current guards, they aren't exactly the most competent, and since there aren't any mages among them they have nothing to stand against armored units and they can't see through disguises all that well. He never takes a break, does he?"

"Not when money's involved." She puffed out her chest and spoke in a mock Russian-Scottish-Welsh accent. Actually, it's best referred to as the Gregor accent. "How are weaklings such as you supposed to protect anything? Leave job to swell swordsman such as Gregor for only five hundred gold an hour!" Please tell me he didn't really charge that much, the guards are only getting one thousand an hour between twenty of them.

"So, any plans for your wedding?"

"Ugh, Gregor keeps tiptoeing the subject. The only ideas I've heard from him involve Ferox and Tellius, and I don't want to travel that far for the wedding."

"Speaking of Ferox, did you hear earlier? Martin and Flavia were asking Libra if he could be in charge of their ceremony next winter. Our little boy's growing up! It's going to be worth the trip to see that ceremony." Just a few months ago, Martin was struggling to handle the Feroxian way of living, and now he didn't want to leave. He had also become an infiltrator and learned to use magic in that time.

On that note, Dolce was now a dragoon, and had become much more talented with her sword during training with her fiance, Libra. This combined with her abilities as a manakete made her a very efficient fighter.

"Yes, it's going to suck going through all that snow but I'll manage for that." Oh come on, the cold wasn't that bad, it was actually pretty comfortable as long as you have enough layers to keep the wind out. "Anyway, I'm going to try to drag Gregor back here, see you later!"

As she left, Blaze and Cherche walked up. The two had been engaged soon after the war. Blaze had made his mercenary group, the bloodrose legion, into the Roseanne equivalent to the Shepherds. Members of the group were marked by a tattoo of a withered rose with a code that was traceable with magic for verification. Cherche was considered the second in command of the group as well as the leader of the recently formed dracoknight corps. The two served to create a much stronger bond between Duke Virion and the commoners, especially with the Bloodrose Legion having been known for helping out with bandit problems, even managing to lower the crime rate by a fair portion. "Hello Kira, it's nice to see you again, even if you were just in the country a few weeks ago. The Duke and Duchess would be here as well, but sadly they were tied up with some affairs pertaining to Walhart's army in the west. Our appologies for dragging you to the country while you were worrying about wedding plans, as well. We have several issues at the moment, especially with that small army that's been growing by the day. We would nip it in the bud ourselves if it weren't for the fact that we can't simply march through the other dukedoms which aren't particularly fond of us and won't accept our aid." Blaze stated before letting out a groan.

Virion and Tharja were now married, a strange pairing to say the least. it seemed to be very beneficial to the duke, however, as Tharja kept both him and the other nobles in line. She also had a better standing with the people than the duke did. In fact, the same could be said for both Blaze and Cherche, as well as many of the other high ranking members of the Legion. Virion wasn't exactly trusted within the country of Roseanne.

In addition, Emmeryn and I had been to the country recently in an attempt to create a treaty of alliance between us. The nobles hadn't cracked quite yet, but they would most likely give in within the year, assuming they didn't fall first. Sadly, we were unable to warn the rest of Valm of Walhart's threat, and most of the scattered dukedoms believed the small force would be simple to crush, despite at least one or two countries having already fallen. We couldn't head to take out the force without having all the other countries in the continent facing against us.

In better news, Blaze was working on using magic to recreate several inventions from earth, such as the Stereo, MP3, and the playstation VITA. This would seem like an impossible task if it were not for all the inventions mages had already made. Blenders, ovens, and several other things had already been made despite the lack of electricity. There were even some horseless carriages, although they weren't at the level of actual cars just yet.

"So how are your works going?" I asked Blaze.

"I almost have some speakers, although that's as far as I am right now." Blaze replied, rubbing his head thoughtfully. "Engineering something of that level is still a very difficult task to accomplish, but I will probably manage it eventually. How is your light magic going?"

"I have the schematics ready, but they aren't refined enough for normal mages. At the moment, only one of Julia's descendants would be able to do it, and even then it would take years of training that we don't have the time for. It will happen someday, but that day is certainly not today."

"A descendant of Julia? Are there even any of those still alive?" Blaze asked in confusion.

I smirked, preparing for an answer. However, someone else answered for me. "The exalted line can be traced through both the lines of Julia and Marth, That is the main reason why it's still common to see descendants with brands when there's only about a one in five chance for most other lines. One could say that they're twice as… divine as Marth and Julia were." The person chuckled. When I looked over, I saw a familiar hooded figure. Blaze gulped, realizing who it was. "I have something to speak about with this one." Grima said, grabbing me by the ear "Don't bother trying to stop me, you would only end up as a bloodstain." Despite the dark phrase, Grima sounded completely sincere, without a threatening tone anywhere in his voice.

Grima took me out towards the balcony of the chapel. "What do you need to talk to me about?" I asked, a hint of steel entering my voice.

"You know, this is the anniversary of the day my Grandfather was banished. He was a bit ill in his intentions, but he had been fighting for other dragons, was that so wrong? He was the only of my kind to become a manakete, even my father refused to do so. He had cared about the humans just as much as the Divines, yet he was forced to suffer the torture that humans placed on all the non-divine dragons. In addition to that, he was branded a traitor, and blamed for treason by the other Earth dragons, as were the divines and those that became manakete. He was treated horribly, was it really so wrong for him to lash out against the humans, as well as that 'divine' bitch and his little prince? The only humans I truly hate are the exalted family, the ones that killed my family, but my patience is wearing thin, especially seeing nihilists such as Validar and the other grimleal. Damn, it's gonna be hard to deal with him a second time around, there's a good reason I killed him immediately after Chrom last time, and he wasn't made into a risen like I did for everyone aside from you and Chrom, who had too much willpower left. Had I taken out your children as well first, it would have been fine on that matter, but they weren't on the field yet. I wish to make risen out of the humans, yes, but I intend to free them from the tyranny of their puppeteers."

"Puppeteers?"

"I'll get to that later, for now let's get to the real point of our meeting. Is there any chance in getting you to join me? I know you'll fight tooth and nail for Emmeryn and the others, but there's something you have to take into account." Grima leaned in close to me, giving me a demonic look. "You don't stand a chance. Maybe you would if there was only one host for me, and I was restricted to half power to keep his body intact, you might have a chance, but let's face it: You don't have it in you to kill either of my hosts, so you'll be stuck with a 'me' that has double the power of what you say in your little game. In the other time, you only managed to banish me for six years after you made a kamehameha with the Book of Naga and blew off my right arm. Even then, it took two hundred of your soldiers just to manage a draw. I watched the life fading from your body as you used the last few attacks. And that was without the aid of my deadlords or even my weakest risen, I would have ripped you to shreds with a proper force. It doesn't matter how many kids you bring from the future, they will all fall, and I will assume my rightful place. So how about it? With me you won't be some servant, you will be like kin to me. Hell, if Validar's my family, then I care for my cardinals as if they were more than kin!"

"I don't care, I'll fight you with my last breath. I will find a way to defeat you, even if I die in the process. I came here to save the Shepherds, and I'll be damned if that's not what I do!"

Grima sighed "I guess I expected that one, but it didn't hurt to try. Farewell Kira, and good luck. I will fight you with the same resolve, so I expect you and the other shepherds to give it your all. If you can defeat me, then I will consider myself to be proven wrong, although I guess that will not matter much compared to your victory." And with that, Grima faded into the darkness of the night.

"Kira?" I heard a very familiar voice and turned. Emmeryn was standing at the door to the balcony. She ran towards me, grabbing me by the hand. "I've been looking for you. Everyone left about five minutes ago, so we can go on up to bed now."

I let out a cheer "Thank God!" It was a good thing Emmeryn new I was from another world, anyone else would be thrown off by using God as a singular "We can finally get our rest."

Emmeryn leaned her head into my chest "I think you're forgetting something. What is the tradition for the night after the wedding?"

It took a moment for me to register what exactly she was saying, and I got excited as soon as I realized. I could definitely go without some rest for this.

I picked Emmeryn up, despite her half hearted protests of embarrassment, activated devil speed, and went upstairs as quickly as possible.

XXXXXXXX

_9 months later_

"So what will we name them? I'm sure we both have our ideas." I asked Emmeryn. I was currently holding our daughter, one of the two twins who had just been born. She had my yellow eyes and the brand of the exalt on her cheek. Emmeryn was holding our son, who had been born a few minutes earlier and would probably hold it over his 'baby' sister for years to come. He had the brand on his back, which was much easier to hide than his sisters would be should such a situation have arisen that it was needed. The boy looked up at his mother with his bright green eyes, as if asking the same question.

"How about we each name one? That way, I can name one what I want and you can name the other. You will probably want to name them after something from your own world, so I would prefer that I at least understand where one of them came from."

"That sounds fine with me. How about we each name the one we are currently holding?" I had a name for the daughter that we could both appreciate, and the only name I would prefer for the boy that worked that way was after a bow wielder, and a poor one at that. Not the best namesake to have.

"Okay, let's call this one Julius." The boy let out a gleeful noise as if in agreement.

"After the Lopto prince?" I definitely wasn't expecting that one, but I guess it wasn't too bad if she had a good reason for it.

"Well, he was one of our ancestors, after all, and I don't think anyone else in our family has had a name like it. It's about time the prince got some recognition. He was known for being a very kind boy before he was possessed, and even then they say he still showed love to Ishtar. Despite how we may paint that aspect of history, he honestly wasn't the worst of our line. One could even argue that my father was just as bad, since he killed everyone, in their path, man woman or child. Besides, even Julius had a little of Naga in him." Emmeryn smiled.

"I can't really argue that one. This one will be **Lena**, that way I can have a namesake from my world and we can pass it off as her being named for the cleric that served Marth." The girl was already sleeping in my arms, resting her tiny head on my shoulder. She was named for a character from Beautiful Creatures, which remained one of my favorite novels to this day. "You know, with Lucina coming along a few days ago, and Aversa and Cordelia both expecting, these two will definitely have their share of playmates around the castle."

Emmeryn smiled "They will not be lonely, that is certain. You will probably make them annoy their poor cousin, won't you?"

"That's their job as cousins!" I said, adjusting Lena's position as I raised a single finger in the air "They will not let little lucy be a stick in the mud!". Emmeryn laughed at this, and Julius let out a sound similar to a giggle.

**XXXXXXXXX**

**And now we have Kira's part for the timeskip, essentially. There should be two more alternate pov chapters, possibly a certain paralogue for another Kira pov, then we should be able to get going with the Valm arc. Please remember to leave a review, they are like being tossed a freaking elixer!**


	21. Tactician Who

**Time to answer some reviews:**

**Ace: Well, development for villains will come, just not as soon as the others. Eh, at least we still have fewer children characters than first gen. Lena has been introduced, just under an alias.**

**Pyro: We still have two more that were introduced under aliases(one a fairly easy name to figure out) and three others who have not been shown at all.**

**Cormag: Yeah, the entire time I wrote it I was wondering if anyone would be able to follow it and refusing to space things out more because I'm strict about my wordcounts in most cases.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem, as I have stated the last twenty times.**

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

_Soren pov_

I leapt back, maneuvering through the striking limbs of risen. When I came up I decapitated one before returning to the same procedure, sighing. We had already wasted a week on this shit, fighting off a bunch of vegetarian risen because some Anna with a Roseannean accent was having problems with her crop this year.

The worst part of it was that the damned things grew back faster than the crops they were after. You kill a squad, and another one took its place within ten minutes. Even with us fighting until we had worn ourselves ragged every day, the crops were still going down at the same pace. The only benefit we were getting from this was training, the living training dummies being perfect for working on one's fighting style.

All in all, this was the worst outrealm we had been to so far. That was saying something considering we had entered one outrealm where everyone had blue hair and was named Chrom, another in which everything was the same but with everyone's genders being swapped, and yet another in which we saw a guy named Siegfried completely decimating his friends in combat, with us being too inexperienced to provide them aid.

There wasn't really even anything particularly interesting about the world other than the risen being vegetarians. The only other thing there was to this realm was mindless fighting against a ton of weak risen along with a few others that would kick our asses if we faced them.

In the other rows of the field, I saw Geralt placing traps and throwing fireballs, hoping to at least thin the risen numbers a little before we left.

Christian was in manakete form, although she was only swatting the risen aside with her claws with the fear that her flames would burn the crop down along with the risen. Tight spaces weren't exactly the best place for a dragon to be fighting, but she had no combative abilities aside from her manakete form. She could heal or raze, and there was no real in between for her.

Xane simply looked bored as he blasted the enemy with tornadoes of dark energy. As none of the risen were able to fight from a range and Xane had the highest amount of magical strength of the group- and a fair amount of control as well- the risen weren't able to accomplish very much against him. He didn't have the raw power or speed that Julius had, opting more for the slightly bulkish style that Laurent had, but these enemies simply had too little resistance to last against him.

I couldn't take anymore "Guys, we're going to another outrealm. Maybe we'll find one where we can actually make a difference soon, but let's take the week off for now."

"Where are we going?" Christian asked.

"Kira told me about this Chon'sin style spring in one realm, I'd like to check the place out."

"That sounds amazing!" Tiki had told Christian about much of the Chon'sin culture, and the girl had on occasion mentioned her wish to see some of these things for herself.

"I thought you would enjoy it, let's go." We all left, dragging away Geralt who expressed his wishes to help this Anna. We shut him up, reminding him that he only wanted to help because the woman sounded like someone from his home, and was not, in fact, from Roseanne.

XXXXXXX

"So you want to go to the hot springs? Here is a map, show me where in the realm you wish to start at."

I stepped forward quickly, and in my haste I failed to notice the rather large rock right next to her. With one false step, I tumbled into the gate.

I grimaced as I went through, praying my inattentiveness would not get me killed. The get had not been set to a location at the time, so I could have ended up in pretty much any outrealm. Even worse, if I couldn't find an Anna then I would be stuck here forever, or at the very least a very long time until the one over our gate tracked me down.

The gate opened, spitting me out right over a building. From what I could see, the place seemed to be a moder location like in some of the movies that Kira had replicated from his world and had talked me into watching.

I landed on the roof before rolling and falling for three stories onto the pavement. I landed on the ground and blacked out.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Hey boss, we've got a cosplayer or something over here, what do you want to do with him?" A voice woke me up. I opened my eyes, seeing a blurry vision of a group of men, numbering at four or five, it was difficult to tell with how my vision was blurring. There looked to be about two lean men carrying knives, two bukier men, one wielding a thick slab of wood and another holding some form of slender club with nails driven through it, the last, most likely the leader, was about a medium build. Concealed on his person were a few knives, thin switch-operated blades, throwing knives, and one thick knife that was built for usage in a legitimate battle, the time a thief would bring to the battlefield. In addition to that, in his pocket was a gun, a ranged weapon that I had only seen once before in person, although I had seen them many times in movies. He wore a strange billowing purple coat that covered his entire body including one eye, the other visibly yellow.

The leader looked me over, before grabbing Clarent and inspecting the blade. "This blade seems real, and it also seems to hold a certain power to it. Take him with us, master Nergal may want him for some of his experiments, and if not then we can simply sell it to Sterling. This man will make a fine tool, if my observations are correct." The man pointed his gun at my head "You should get up if you wish to survive, but if you do not then I can speed things up a bit." I stood up, thinking through a plan.

I soon realized that there was a simple way through: While a gun can beat a sword, it wouldn't be all that effective against tactical magic.

I merged with the shadows, appearing behind the cloaked man.

The man turned around, but I was faster. Before he could raise his hand, my blue flames had reached his hands, forcing to toss the gun from pain. The gun fell towards the ground.

But it never landed.

A new figure entered the battle quickly grabbing the gun. The figure was a woman wearing all black, with a hood covering her head and gloves over her hands. Under the hood I could see a flash of red similar to that of an Anna.

The woman pointed at one of the men, their leader having already abandoned the men to their deaths, probably considering them to be too expendable to risk his life over.

"Oh gods, it's that YPD bitch again."

"I'm an informant, actually. I'm able to get men arrested just like cops, but I don't have to deal with any of those restrictions limiting our abilities." The woman smirked "As long as I don't leave any DNA evidence, I can do whatever I like." That explained the getup.

"Hey, don't shoot them." I told the woman.

"And why is that?"

"I want to at least give these guys a chance." I said with a smirk.

"You're a cocky one, I like that." The woman grinned before rushing at one of the knife wielders, yanking the man's blade right of of his slack hand. With a single swift motion, the woman slit the thug's throat and pulled her hand out before the blood could splatter on her.

The man with the spiked club struck out at me and I smirked. I held out my off hand and guarded, the club failing to pierce the light mail it was stitched with. I cast bolganone and the man's club immediately burst into flames, soon consuming the man as well.

I charged at the other and lashed out with Clarent. The man had no time to react before my blade was in his stomach. I pulled the blade out and fired a basic thunder spell to make sure his nervous system was fried.

I looked over, seeing that the woman had taken out her second foe as well. It was surprising how simple that fight was. If you take away their guns, then their leader was the only decent fighter they had. If he had understood magic then I probably would have been dead already.

"So, you're from another outrealm, huh?" The woman said, more of a statement than a question.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Well, you don't see many sword wielding mages around here, so it was a fair guess. My aunt can help you get back, just follow me. My name is Jett Cassidy, by the way."

"Soren." I said as I followed the woman.

XXXXXXXXX

Jett led me over to a place called Annamart, which I guess explained how she knew about the outrealms. Jett's aunt apparently was the guardian of the gate here, although it rarely got any use because magic did not exist in this world aside from said gate, so very few people could even comprehend the idea of the gate, let alone know there was one under a department store.

Inside I met with Gaius, Anna, and my sister.

"Morgan, it's so nice to see you!" I said.

"Um, do I know you?"

"Hello? I'm your older brother Soren."

"I have no siblings." Morgan replied.

"Well, I guess we have one of those outrealm people you told me about, Anna." Gaius said before turning to me. "Hello Mr. Alien, I do not believe there is a version of you in our world, but I guess I can check." Soren looked at me closely, then pulled a picture and showed it to me. "Does your father by chance look anything like this?"

I looked over the picture. There was only one big difference "Yeah, the only difference is that my dad has black hair."

Gaius sighed "Well, our world's version of your father just so happens to be the most wanted man in the world, Robin Sterling." Gaius said, and after a moment spoke again "Why aren't you surprised, Mr. Alien?"

"Well, considering the fact that my dad became the host of Grima in my world, nothing would surprise me at this point. You could literally tell me that Kellam, the nice invisible knight, was a well-known murderer and I wouldn't be shocked."

"Well…."

"Are you serious? Well, I guess the quiet ones are always the most dangerous after all. Hmm, maybe I should compare some notes. Have you met a woman named Crimson?"

"No, I don't believe I have. Why?"

"Well, I guess that means Silver hasn't been born."

"Silver? Wait, was this Gaius' wife in your world?" Anna asked, a faint blush flashing across her face for a second before going away. Anna seemed to be pretty defensive about Gaius, maybe there was a little something going on there?

"Yeah, anyway…" We continued to talk, learning about each other's worlds. It seemed that in this world, many people of legend were gathered within one time period. Said people were also gathered in various factions, many of which conflicting each other. There were even a few men who were known for their good deeds who were employed by terrorist groups. It also seemed that none of the dragon's envoys were in this world, and neither were their children. There was also this man named Colby, who may or may not be the same Colby I met in Vincent's outrealm.

I finally prepared to leave "Hey Anna, can you send a message to the guardian of my gate? There is another outrealm I would like to visit before I head to the springs, so I will need her to watch over the place and get me down there from my current destination."

"Sure, just tell me the world and make sure I have your message done properly." Anna and I looked over my plans, and soon I left for the next world.

XXXXXXXXX

I entered a wide hall full of risen. These were not your normal risen either, they were all deadlords. Each one was designated one of twelve ceremonial names: Mus, Bovis, Tigris, Lepus, Draco, Anguilla, Ovis, Simia, Gallus, Canis, or Porcus. Typically these would always come in groups of twelve, but this time there were nine extra, making a number of forty five.

I knew that I would never survive fighting all of them, but there was only one I was interested in seeing. "Bring my teacher to me! I wish to spar with him for one last time." These risen were the shepherds that Grima had killed in another outrealm. In this outrealm, Grima had already one and was i the process of killing each of the divine dragons one by one.

One of the risen, an Anguila, walked up to me. "I will fight you, but we will adhere to the laws of this realm. We do not intend to send all of our troops , but if you cannot at least defeat me then you shall perish where you stand. Do you accept, Soren?" The man asked in an almost sad tone.

"Yes, that will be fine." I said, and my former teacher charged at my with a copy of mercurius. The man was an Anguilla in name alone, and held the difference of not riding a mount from the others of his kind. Kira had lost the ability to use his blade when he became a risen, but his new one would more than suffice.

Using sword magic, I was able to muster up the strength to deflect the blow. I used shadow travel to try and slide by his defenses but I was too slow.

"You will have to try better to trick me, Soren. I was the one who taught you that after all."

I shadow traveled again, launching a blast of bolganone at the Anguilla before rushing at him with my blade again. This time I managed to score a small gash on the risen's leg.

I was met with a crushing blow from Mercurius, throwing me towards the wall. I fell over to the ground with a loud thunk.

The risen struck at me yet again, and I barely managed to dodge. Even without the ability to use his trump, Kira was still much faster than me, and he was exceedingly strong for a corpse. The only advantage I had in my position was the fact that Kira had no tome on him, which merely made it more ridiculous that I was losing this badly.

I raised my hand, feeling a rush of power. Massive spires of dark energy rushed towards Kira, landing several small gashed and a few large ones. This was the power of Grima's Truth.

I charged again, my flames growing to a massive height and joined by a new aura of dark energy. This time I pushed Kira back, and I kept a huge rush of strikes going to prevent him from recovering.

I unleashed yet another powerful strike, but that was the worst mistake I could have made. Kira placed Mercurius against the side of my blade, parrying.

When Kira's blade came around I was met with the force of both my attack and his. The only reason I wasn't split in half was that Kira struck with the flat of his blade, and that alone was enough to break bones.

I was helpless, forced to watch as Kira brought down Mercurius once more. "I'm sorry, but I must follow the laws of the realm, and that law is to kill any trespassers." And with that, Kira brought down the final blow.

But it never came. I heard the clang of metal as a new blade was brought into the fray. Kira's blow was completely prevented by a man in a tactician cloak.

"Khrow…" Kira said "You do realize what this means?"

"Don't fret over such things. I'm fairly certain we can make an exception for my son. Maribelle, if you'd please."

I felt my wounds healing at an amazingly fast rate, and I stood up again. "Why would you help me after all that you have done to us?" I asked my father, and was immediately pulled into a hug.

"I'm so sorry for everything that has happened to you, Soren. I was unable to hold off Grima's influence. The dragon's resolve was just too strong, he truly believed his actions to be just."

"And here I am, plotting to kill my world's version of you."

"I trust whatever decision you make on the matter." My father's risen said to me, what seemed to be a tear forming in his eye.

"What?"

"Even if you take my life, it will be fine. I'm sure that your world's version of me will say the same. To a parent, the child is more important than the parent's life. Hell, the child is the parent's life, in a way. There is nothing I would not give up for the sake of you and Morgan, be it my life or the whole world. You can make whatever decision you wish, and it will still be the proper choice in my eyes."

"Thank you. Thank you so much, Father."I wasn't going to back out on my decision, no matter how much I wished to let my selfishness take over. Geralt, Julius, Silver, Xane, Christian, Lucy. I was doing this for all the other shepherds. My own loss was nothing compared to the loss of all of them. That went double for Lucina. I don't want to see that girl cry for anything other than happiness again. I knew it would be impossible, but I would try my hardest to do so.

A Mus came up, wielding Gradivus "I trust you to take care of my daughter, as well. The others too, of course, but if anything happens to my daughter I will cross the gate just to hunt you down."

"Shouldn't you be getting to your friends now?" My father asked, reminding me of my prior obligations. I said my farewells and left.

It was time for a week of relaxation, rivalry with Gralt, trying to stop Xane from doing anything stupid like peek in on the baths that a manakete happened to be bathing in, and letting Christian see the closest thing to Chon'sin we would be able to visit until the Valm war. I smiled to myself, this would be a fun week.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

**And there's yet another chapter. So now Last Promise(still need to finish that mod), Insanity, and Impossible Emblem are all outrealms in our new universe. Apparently deadlords can also be pretty nice guys when they aren't trying to kill you, so about 0.0001% of the time. Anyway, please leave a review if you enjoyed this.**


	22. In Valm

**Answer reviews:**

**Cormag: I am very tempted to write that in a scene now, maybe that would fit for a one-off ally character.**

**Chast: don't forget the SE reference mixed in there! I just saw that now and it was amazing, but I got the idea from a Tumblr post.**

**Pyro: The gang leader was Ephidel, one of Nergal's morphs and currently my second favorite villain next to Arvis, who I would have written if Cormag had not killed him off within 1,000 words of screentime.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own fire Emblem.**

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_Julius pov_

"Julius, could you please teach me to wield a staff?" Syrenne asked me.

"I would be glad to help, but why do you have a sudden interest in staves? I had expected you to ask your sister to teach you to use a bow any day now." I responded.

"Which I would be glad to help with, by the way." Silver added.

"I want to be like Aunt Anna." Syrenne said, looking down.

"You remember Aunt Anna? Is there anything else you remember? Maybe something about your parents or me?" Silver prodded, excited by the mention of someone they had known prior to their separation.

"A little, I guess, but only scattered and blurred details. The only real clear memory I have was the time I broke my leg while our parents are gone."

"I remember that. We had let you play outside for a while, since we still had Mom and Dad's guards patrolling around to make sure that the risen couldn't get in. We started getting worried when you didn't come back for a while, and we found you crying next to a large rock. Anna healed you with her mend, and fussed over you for days after you had healed. That was the last time we really got to see her, huh?"

Syrenne nodded " While I would prefer to be in the fray, I want to be able to help others if need be."

Jordan walked over and joined in as well "Could you teach me, as well? I'd like to branch my talents to something other than casting spells and punching things."

"Well, it would help us all if we had more healers. That way we would always have someone on hand to heal and we would have fewer breaks in combat. We should be able to cover at least the basics before we reach the ports, but you still won't be fully ready to treat others for at least another year or so. We'll start tomorrow, for now we'll just do some training. Go and grab Nox." The boy was over sitting by the edge of the ship's rails. He rarely spoke, and when he did it was usually to Jordan or Syrenne. He was almost always kindling a small flame in the palm of his hand, and he would occasionally use rubbish we were tossing over for target practice. There was also the issue of his mask, which I had learned much to my chagrin was sealed off with some form of magic, preventing anyone from ripping it off.

"Ok, I'll be back in a minute." Jordan said as he went over to the rails."

XXXXXXXXX

"It's hard to believe we'll be at the port in a few hours, huh?" I asked Silver. While the port was not in sight yet, the ship captain was very familiar with this area of the sea and had informed us a few hours ago that we were within a day's travel of Chon'sin.

"Thank the gods for that. It's a good time to celebrate." Silver said as she pulled out a bottle of wine. "Want some?"

"Hmm, well I guess a glass wouldn't hurt during this occasion, that sounds fine." I replied.

"What's with your whole 'only for celebration' thing anyway?" Silver asked.

I guessed that I had never really explained that to her. "It's because of my dad." Silver gave me a curious look, urging me to continue. " He used to always drink a glass or two to celebrate major battles against Grima's forces, but that changed after Mom was killed. From then on, the only time he ever so much as touched wine was celebrating a family birthday, with Soren added in, of course. I often heard him comment that drink would help ease his pain, but he always refused, even when offered a tankard. Once I asked him why he never joined the others when they went to the bar, his response was that he should only drink in celebration, and that since Mother passed he felt like there was nothing to celebrate about. The only thing he wished for at that point was for us to be able to enjoy our lives to the fullest, and to one day be able to find reasons to celebrate every day."

"Well, if celebrating every day means drinking every day, then that's what I wish for as well" Silver chuckled a little before turning serious "gods, were all messed up, aren't we?"

"Who wouldn't be in our circumstances?"

"Good point." Silver poured another glass. "So, what's the plan for when we get to Chon'sin."

"We'll figure that out when we get there."

"So you seriously have nothing then."

"Well, we have no idea what period in the war is occurring right now. We can't plan anything before we at least know that much. We also have no idea how much has been altered in this timeline."

Silver took on a thoughtful look before responding. "Well, whatever plans you make, be sure that I have a major part because I'm sticking by your side." Silver reached down and clasped my hand before giving me the crazy grin I had grown used to in the last five years.

XXXXXXXX

When we managed to get off at a port, we were immediately met with a sight that we had not expected. The Chon'sin rebellion was in the middle of a battle.

What was surprising about this was their foe. Rather than soldiers led by Yen'fay or one of Walhart's other generals, they were facing a legion of risen led by Koto.

We immediately joined into the fray. I pulled out a catharsis and to stop a swordmaster's rather nasty looking wound. It was more important for me to keep our stronger units alive than to join in the fighting myself.

Once it seemed that I had healed our best units, I pulled out my Morningstar tome for support, knowing that Creiddylad would probably end up killing some of our allies in such a small, clustered space. There were still some weaker soldiers who were suffering minor injuries, but there was currently no major damage and I needed to ration my stave usage.

Jordan was channeling his excalibur tome, and was bashing in the skulls of any enemy whose weapon had a short reach. He could take down pretty much anything without a lance.

Syrenne had the Sword of Seals out, and was demolishing the ranks of wyvern riders to make up for the force's lack of wind users aside from Jordan. Flames were igniting the skies with every slash.

Silver was in the middle of the force, cutting down every risen she could with immense speed. With the help of Balmung, she became a blur of whirling blades, and nothing was able to so much as land a scratch on her.

Nox had pulled out his copy of Valflame and was burning a path in the risen. I followed the path he seemed to be heading down, and realized he was aiming for Koto.

Nox made his way to his target, who looked him over with disdain. "A child is sent to defeat me?" Koto asks in a disdainful voice "The human race has truly lost all of its morals."

"You don't exactly look too old yourself." Nox said in an amused voice. "And I'm pretty sure you are human yourself."

"I suppose it doesn't matter, I'll crush you just like all the other roaches."

"I'll have you running, just like you did from everything else." Wait, did Nox know Koto somehow?

"Ussendayo!" Koto yelled as she fired a spell.

Nox responded in kind, and two Valflames met with equal force. When the fires faded, there was a long line of ash between the two.

"Please tell me that wasn't all you have in you." Nox said in a bored voice.

"I have flames hot enough to make hell seem cold." Koto launched a barrage of flames, which Nox lazily knocked aside with his own. The area around them was scarred by the flames, made almost unrecognizable.

One last fireball came, burning Nox's arm until it was charred. Almost immediately, the arm began to heal, and within seconds there was no trace of any prior damage.

Nox pulled out a javelin and threw it. The javelin lodged itself into Koto's shoulder.

Koto pulled the javelin out and her wound quickly repaired itself. She reached back and unsheathed a brave lance. "Okay, now I'm really pissed."

Nox pulled out his own. "Good, maybe you'll quit messing around then."

"I'm going to beat you like a redheaded stepchild."

"Good luck. The prey rarely bests its hunter." Nox replied before lunging towards Koto.

Koto responded with a jab of her own, and Nox quickly brought the shaft of his lance upward to block. Thankfully, since the shaft was made of silver it was able to handle the strike without taking any major damage.

The two became locked in a dance of blades, matching each other blow for blow. Nox jabbed and Koto whirled around for an overhead strike, which Nox parried and used for a whirling strike to the side. The two never seemed to tire, any wounds they received or inflicted being healed in a matter of seconds. It was like watching two demons combat each other.

There was only one major difference between the two: Nox seemed to be slightly better. He held his lance with a little more confidence, his stance slightly better. His strikes and parries were a split second faster, and his blows hit with just a little more force. Tho most important aspect of this difference was that he could take the damage with slightly fewer problems, as well.

With a final strike, Nox split Koto's weapon at the head.

Koto prepared one of her valflame spells, but before she could launch the attack, she fell to her knees and began screaming. It seemed that she was caught in one of her fits.

Nox stopped, rather than landing a killing blow. Whether for honor or some other reason, I could not tell. When Koto recovered, she fled, leaving us room to take out the remaining risen.

After we cleared the area, we helped the rebel army to check the status of their men. It seemed that there was only one casualty, and only a few injuries.

This would have been considered a wonderful victory had it not been for one detail: the casualty in question was the princess of Chon'sin, Say'ri.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Will you take the offer, sir?" Say'ri's former second in command asked.

"Are you certain that a foreigner is worthy of the position? Would you not lose troops?"

"We would lose fewer than we would if I was in command. Say'ri was the only thing able to bring the force together, and I certainly don't have the charisma to do the same. When you entered the battlefield, I saw a rare sight within our troops: hope. You are obviously a fine strategist, and your men fought with amazing vigor. Even if we lose men, we will be able to carry on with your assistance. As it is, your masked friend has already earned some fame within the rebellion. Not even princess say'ri was able to make the grimleal girl retreat like that."

"I can't really refuse in that case, can I?" I responded, giving the swordmaster an affirmative. I was not sure what exactly to think of the prospect of becoming the leader of the Chon'sin rebellion. While I could provide some tactical aid, I couldn't raise their morale the way Say'ri could. I barely managed that with my own country, I mainly left that part of leadership to Lucina and Lea. However, in this situation the army may collapse without my aid.

"Thank you sir. Would you like to meet the other Ylisseans in our resistance?"

"Other Ylisseans?"

"Yes, sir. Allow me to fetch them for you."

And with that the swordmaster left. When he returned, he brought two people with him.

The first was a girl with long red hair similar to her mother Anna and purple eyes. She was rather young, only a year older than Syrenne. However, she was still older than some of our soldier, like Laurent. Well, from what I've heard, he landed a few years early, so I guess he's older now. She was still older than Ciri. She was a thief, and her name was **Sarah**.

The second was a woman wearing yellow cavalier armor. She had a dark complexion that labeled her as Feroxi, black hair and eyes the color of amber. She gave a muted aura of power befitting of a khan's daughter, although thankfully it was difficult to piss her off. Her name was **Soleil**.

Silver ran out from beside me and hugged Sarah. "Sarah! How have you been?" She asked, becoming more excited than I had seen her in years. I guess it made sense, since the two considered each other cousins due to their parents' close friendships. "Wait, where's your brother? Did you lose him like you do everything else?"

"It's pretty hard to lose something so loud." Sarah muttered "He went off west, searching for 'his place in history' or something stupid like that."

"Well, it looks like we have someone for if I decide to make an intelligence agency." Silver said "With Syrenne, that makes three."

"Make that four." Soleil said raising her hand up.

"I don't think a cavalier would be very good for stealth."

"Don't worry, I don't need my horse to fight. I'm pretty good at stabbing backs." Soleil said with a smirk. In our army she had been infamous for her rather underhanded fighting style. She only actually fought properly against someone she considered a worthy opponent, and she got others out of her sight as soon as possible.

"Anyway," Sarah said in an attempt to move the subject "how are you and Julius doing?" She asked Silver.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on, you know what I mean. You don't have to be shy with just the four of us. I can tell you l-"

Silver pulled out a knife and pointed it towards Sarah "We don't day the l- word around here."

"What l- word? Lesbian?" I asked in confusion. Silver let out a sigh in a mixture of exasperation and relief while Sarah's palm met her face.

Soleil laughed at this "I think she meant the other l-word, Julius."

"Lesbians?"

Sarah huffed out loudly before dragging away a laughing Soleil.

I looked over at Silver "Seriously, what were they talking about?"

"I'll leave that for you to figure out." Silver said before leaning forward and pressing her lips against mine. The feeling was gone almost as quickly as it came, and left me wanting more. Suddenly, gears began to turn in my head as I figured out what they had meant. "Wait-" I said.

But by then Silver had already left the room, making me feel extremely stupid.

XXXXXXXXXXX

_Koto pov_

I killed the Chon'sin princess, this should have felt like an amazing victory, but it felt as if I had failed in a worse way than I ever had before. Yen'fay would be put through the same pain I dealt with, all because of one mistake.

"_It will be fine."_

No it wouldn't, Hibi. That poor man is going to have to deal with the loss of his sister, just like I did with you. The only reason I can even talk to you like this is out of Grima's kindness.

"_Say'ri had already placed her life on the line by joining the rebellion, this is what she signed up for. Don't be so hard on yourself."_

You're just saying that to make me feel better. I know that I made a huge mistake. I'm worthless, aren't I?

With that I felt a surge of power. A strange glow surrounded me, and when it faded my clothes had changed and my lance began to feel awkward in my the old school uniform I was wearing a long black overcoat resembling a haori. There was now a hat resting on top of my head.

I had become a death seeker- a warrior who overwhelmed foes with immense strength and magical ability, but paid no heed to her own safety and defenses. I could feel that my lance was no longer a suitable weapon, but what would I replace it with? It also seemed that I no longer had an aptitude for healing...

As if to answer my question, Grima appeared before me, holding a bronze blade towards me. The dragon had taken its female form, curious to feel what it was like. "You'll need to withdraw from Valm soon, since we'll need to hide any traces of our involvement to keep the Ylisseans docile. We can make it seem that you were just a rogue grimleal and it will be fine. I am sorry for what has happened here, but at least we have made some good work. You even drove Priam away two years early."

"You feel sorry for what happened?"

"I know how the death of Say'ri must be weighing in your mind. This is the toll of war, and a part of the reason I feel humanity must be placed back onto the proper track. Part of the reason Walhart is doing all of this is to prevent my advance, but I can agree with his views on a world under a single banner. If I can speak to him properly, I'm certain that he will agree with our cause. In a way, he's very much like my father, except maybe a little less hungry for blood."

"If your father was more bloodthirsty than Walhart, than I would be terrified to meet him."

"He's just a little more aggressive than most, that's all. We should be heading out soon in a bit, but there is one thing I would like to do."

"What would that be, sir?"

Grima gestured towards the blade I held, and pulled out one of her own "Would you possibly like to spar for a bit? You could use a little experience with that blade."

I nodded before getting into an awkward battle stance.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Well, that was shorter than** **expected, but at least we now have Nox's and Koto's character's properly established, and hopefully most of you are still confused as hell about Nox. We are also down to one remaining future child, with the exception of the one that was killed off and downgraded to backstory element due to me not wanting to ruin awesome gender balance in the second gen. See you next time, and please leave a review!**


	23. Seaside Paralogues

**Cormag: I may need to take a few lessons in that, although I have come up with some ways to trim the edges of my cast. I've already told Bun-Bun of one that will hit everyone in the feels. I have also thought of a few ways to do so without actually killing them, since some I don't have the heart to kill and some are too important to the story. Just wait until Valm, even I'll lose track of which one's talking. Nope, no lords will be getting their asses kicked with a freaking demigod tactician named for the Archsage of Winds who wields the blade of Mordred around. Besides, Lucina could kinda get her executed, Julius could hold his cousin's wrath before but now there's an overprotective father who might just do the job himself. Too risky.**

**No, no one kicks Lucina ass like Vincent.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem. If I did, I would have a ton of writers and we would have no issues with character development, and we'd be pumping out a chapter a day.**

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_Derek pov_

"It's nice to get a job like this once in a while." Crimson said as she relaxed on her towel. We were on the beach by one of the coastal villages. Gaius was off stealing from some of the stands while Anna was making a stand of her own. Within seconds, Gaius managed to take several popsicles and brought them towards us.

"Remember, this isn't supposed to be a vacation, no matter how much it feels like one." I told Crimson "We're supposed to be here to recruit a swordsman spotted by the locals. I don't know how we're missing a guy who's hair tips are Anna red." I sighed "If only we had information about his home, or there was some way to draw him to us."

"Let's not worry about it so much yet, servant." Gaius said. He had given me the nickname within a day of his recruitment after making a joke about how Anna had me whipped, and it sadly stuck. "If we find him, that's good, but we shouldn't worry if we can't find him. What happens happens."

"We need every man we can get right now, the intelligence agency is just starting and we need all the muscle we can get should things go south. None of the other members have the stealth to make it through a big mission or the strength to fight powerful units if needed, so we need to find people like this." I looked at the card again: Long brown hair with the ends the color of an Anna's, yellow eyes goes by the self-given moniker of sword demon. That was very fishy. He had given himself the same moniker that Karel originally held, meaning one of three things: He had chosen the name by pure coincidence, he was an Elibean who had chosen the name because of the legends, or…

"Looks like you'll get to see this 'sword demon' in action." Anna said, cutting into the conversation. I looked over towards where she was pointing, and saw that some of the ships that we thought were docking were moving towards the shore in a strange manner:pirates.

In addition, there was a man wearing a purple myrmidon tunic and white pants charging towards the shore.

I prepared to stand, but Anna stopped me "Let's see this guy in action before we do anything. We should get a view of his abilities before we decide whether or not to let hi0 in the intel group. Don't worry, we won't let him die or anything."

The pirates met with the myrmidon "Oh look what we 'ave 'ere. This li'l lad t'inks he can take us on wif not'ing but a toothpick." One said, a rather bulky looking corsair.

The myrmidon held up his weapon, the regal blade "This toothpick's going to go three feet up your ass if you don't shut your damned mouth. I'm already sick of your accent." That guy is either really skilled or really cocky, which one would be shown with this battle.

"T'at's it, come 'ere you li'l shite!"

The corsair charged with his axe, and the myrmidon used a motion I immediately recognized about the activation sequence for Ace of Spades. What the hell?

In a flash, the myrmidon dug the regal blade into the corsair's neck, eliciting a loud scream. "Take it like a man!" The myrmidon said as he tugged down on the hilt of his sword, finishing the corsair off with a loud pop.

Next was a barbarian, who seemed to be no faster than the first. The man raised his axe, but before the blow could be dealt, the myrmidon rushed in and slit the barbarian's throat.

The myrmidon dodged out of the way as gravity brought down the dead man's axe. A hole about the size of a man's foot was left in the sand where the myrmidon had stood a mere second before.

"Tch, you men need to learn that swords beat axes. Send as many barbarians as you want, it's not going to work."

A mercenary stepped forward, one of the only two men left. "How about you test your skill against another swordsman then?"

"Fine by me." The myrmidon quickly parried the myrmidon's first strike before launching an overhead blow of his own, which the mercenary dodged.

The two tried to take initiative at the same time, and their blades clashed. THey locked blades, pushing against each other in an attempt to throw the other off balance.

The mercenary one this bout, shoving the myrmidon to the ground. He raised his sword for a finishing blow-

And the myrmidon rolled around, landing a small graze along the mercenary's leg as he went.

The myrmidon stood back up to be met by another strike. He dodged, saving himself from a fatal blow. However, the strike still landed on his shoulder leaving a large gash.

The myrmidon attacked again, a quick jab to the side, but the mercenary anticipated it and dodged quickly to the side. With a quick backlash, the mercenary brought his blade around to wound the myrmidon's other shoulder.

Both of his shoulders seeped with blood, taking on a color darker than the tips of his hair, but the myrmidon only showed a maniacal grin before he attacked viciously.

The mercenary was unable to keep up with the myrmidon's strikes as he switched between many styles: the dazzling strikes of Chon'sin, the heavy blows of Ferox, and the quick jabs and light slashes of Plegia. The mercenary was overwhelmed as he began to take multiple light blows. The mercenary began to slow down as the adrenaline began to leave his body, and the myrmidon brought down his sword in a final, beheading blow.

Breathing heavily, the myrmidon turned towards the final member of the crew, a white haired boy who seemed to be in his early teens, wearing blue sage-like robes and a dull ash gray tiara. "Will you stand down? There is no reason for you to fight with your men dead, especially your leader over there." He pointed back to the dead corsair.

The boy began laughing. "What's so funny?" The myrmidon asked.

"You really think that barbaric oaf was the leader?" The boy said before throwing the myrmidon back with a gust of wind. "I am no mere child, boy. I am the prince of the western isles of Elibe, the prince of pirates! I may be young, but I am still a force to be reckoned with. Now, lord Goliath!" The prince snapped his fingers and a hulking man in armor leapt from the ship, making a crater in the beach as he landed . Judging by the way he held his axe, he probably was not too much stronger than any of us, but combined with the brat there would be some issues.

"Yes, Prince Zephyr?" Goliath asked.

"I just finished out taking out the trash, let us raze this village and take anything we can find."

Knowing time was of the essence in this situation, I quickly made a plan and left with the rest of the team, jumping fro behind the dune we had hidden behind.

Crimson rushed at Goliath. Being the fastest of the group she would have no problem holding off the man until Gaius and I could take the prince out. We would have at least sent Anna to help, but she was busy healing the myrmidon from earlier.

I used my hunter ability to give me a minor edge for the fight. I had a killing edge on me, and the Ace of Spades skill would have put me at risk to end up like the myrmidon. The extra strength would help us take out the little man quicker.

Gaius and I were immediately met by a gust of wind that forced us to dive back. Getting a closer look at the spell, it seemed that Zephyr's spells weren't powerful, and were not quite accurate enough to provide a major challenge. However, the speed at which the spells were cast was more than enough to keep us on our toes. The boy was certainly unpromoted, but his abilities were on par with a lord.

We dodged several bullets of wind as we rushed throughout the beach. I came down in an attempt to land a hit, only for Zephyr to leap out of the way.

Gaius followed up, landing a very small graze along his arm. It wasn't much, but it showed us that we could definitely take this guy down if we kept going for a while.

Zephyr launched another blast of wind, which I ducked under before lashing out at his stomach.

Zephyr's stomach began pouring with blood, another centimeter or so and the boy's intestines would be seeping out. Normally a blow like this would be enough to win a battle against a magic user, however-

Zephyr pulled out an elixir and gulped it down as he knocked us back with a massive blast of rexcalibur. "You two are stronger than I expected, I just wasted the last of my elixir on you. I suppose that means I should go all out." As he said this, huge tendrils of wind began to form around him, and the seas began to churn with the power.

So he was holding back on us, that would be an issue. We began the same routine from before, but now things were much more difficult. The attacks came at an even faster pace than before and they hit a much larger area.

It took all of our effort just to dodge the attacks, and we could only attack when a small opening appeared in the strings of attacks, every ten spells or so. After a few waves of attacks, I began to wonder if his tome had unlimited uses.

Gaius managed to find a fair size opening in the attacks and disappeared in a blur, appearing again with his blade pressed to Zephyr's neck. "This is your last chance to escape with your life."

"I can still take you down, no matter what position you-"

"All three of us?" Came the familiar voice of crimson. Behind her was the corpse of Goliath, fried by her levin daggers. In addition to the low resistance of axe users, Crimson's blade rondo made her faster and more powerful for each round fought against the same enemy, giving her the ability to take the giant down herself.

"Make that five." Came the voices of Anna and the myrmidon. The myrmidon was still showing visible signs of pain from his recently healed wounds, but he hid it fairly well.

"Oh gods, dad will kill me for getting this many men killed without bringing anything back."

"Well, if you don't surrender and get in your stupid boat then we'll kill you five times over." The myrmidon said, summing up our feelings on the matter.

"Meep, Okay, Okay. I'm going!" Zephyr yelled, and as soon as we let him go he ran as quickly as possible to his boat and left the port.

"I think that beneath all of that, the boy was just trying to get his parents' attention. I wonder what it would be like to actually grow up with your parents, mine died before I even hit puberty." The myrmidon muttered "By the way, thanks for healing me, mom."

"Oh you're welcome sweet- Wait, what was that?" Anna said in shock.

XXXXXXXX

?pov

"Wait, what was that?" My mother asked with a very shocked expression on her face. You would think that someone from the family charged with guarding the gate to other universes would have no issue catching onto the idea of time travel.

I let out a loud sigh. "I guess I should explain-"

"You're our child from the future, aren't you?" My father said, catching on immediately. He had been from the other world that Kira and a few others had come from, so I supposed it made a little more sense to him. "What's your name?"

"**Dan**, dad. I also have a sister who is about a year younger than me in Valm right now. I had come here hoping to get some training in and make a name for myself before I joined you guys. I guess I had the latter down." I smirked. I had somehow managed to spread the moniker once used by Karel, even if it wasn't the more savory of his two. I guess the fact that I wore a similar outfit to those he was depicted in helped a bit.

"You did a pretty good job on the former as well, if I may say so myself. When we get back to the castle, I'll see if we can get a swordmaster cloak for you. You've earned it after your battle today." My dad said with a small smile. "You are okay with returning alongside us, right? I would understand if you didn't want your parents to be cramping-" I immediately hugged him, tears beginning to form in my eyes.

"Of course I'll go, dad. Besides, I'll be able to get much better training around the legendary Shepherds."

"And where is the proof that he is our child?" My mother asked, retaining the skepticism that she had learned in her long experience as a merchant. It was poor practice to immediately take the goods before you at face value, after all.

"Well, unless there are a lot of other people around here with blue fucking hair, it's a pretty safe bet that Lucina was this 'Marth we've seen before." Dad began, knowing that he was in the right. "Plus the color of his hair tips. The only other people with that color are related to the Annas, although I don't know why he only has it in a small portion of his hair. There is also the little detail that he used one of my skills during the battle, and I've never seen another person capable of using any of them." Damn, he was definitely paying some close attention there. I guess he had already suspected the truth before coming here.

"That could all be coincidence." Mom waved dad off "Maybe he's just an extremely skilled imposter"

"Anna clan code, rule number one," I began, raising up a finger and silencing my mother. "a member of the family always helps with another's business if need be, but shall otherwise hold all money to themselves and immediate family. Two: upon reaching adulthood, all female children may become and Anna and males may become Adams, merchants and guards respectively. Three: in the case that a child in the house has become orphaned, they must choose immediately whether to take their titles. Four: In the case that a child should deny his or her title, the child will be banned from taking any financial aid from the family, but other forms of aid are acceptable, such as information for an Anna that has become a thief. Five: In the case that an Anna becomes a thief, she is allowed to sell resources to any Anna for a higher price than at another broker. Six: All Annas will be taught the skills of a thief, but they are only allowed to steal from large competing business chains, any other theft will result in the loss of the title. Seven, and most important:" I pointed to the ring on my mother's finger for emphasis "Unless the member has been labeled as a gatherer, the only stores any member of the family may buy from are within the Anna chain or from the brokers who were formerly members of the family."

"Hey, I wanted to surprise her and we all know that the Annas spread rumors quickly!" My father said with indignation.

"If you wanted to surprise me, you could have signed up to be a gatherer! You weren't technically part of the family yet, but we both know that the others pinned you as one of us the second they met you!" Mom said, bringing up an argument I remember being mentioned a few times during the seven years of my childhood they were alive for. "Anyway," Mom turned towards me "no one outside of the family would actually be able to memorize that, and there aren't any Adams in our generation, so you would have to be from the future." Mom wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into a tight hug "I don't know what drove you to come all the way back from the future, but it must have been horrible. I'm sorry for putting you through all of that stress. So you're not an Adam?"

I shook my head "No, the Annas were pretty much gone by the time I was old enough to take the rites. I probably wouldn't have chosen to anyway."

"Well, I guess we can make an exception of the code for you, if there was no one to give you the rites and you're too old to take them now. So, what's this sister of yours like?"

"She's hard to explain. It would be best to wait until you meet her in Valm."

"Okay then,dear." My mother said with a warm smile. It seemed that her motherly instincts had immediately gone into overdrive.

"So what was that style you used? It seemed to be a strange mish-mash of other styles." Dad asked me, his inner sword junkie kicking in. He was like Owain, in away, but much more relaxed.

"Well," I began "I learned the Ylissean moves in the few training sessions we were able to have, and I learned the Plegian style from Uncle Gaius." Uncle Gaius perked up at this, a sucker in his mouth, before continuing to destroy the stash he had built from nothing. "And I learned the Chon'sin style and a bastardized version of the royal style from my friend Owain, I'm guessing you know who he is?" My father nodded his head at this, and I swore I saw a slightly scared look in his eyes. Yep, he definitely knew who Owain was.

"Hey guys! We can all catch up on the way back, let's get going!" Crimson yelled, and I could see a rather important looking gold object in her hands.

Yeah, we needed to hurry before they lynched Crimson for whatever she stole.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Finally, we have the last future child introduced! I was unsure of how to write him or this paralogue, but now I am fairly certain that I can write him well. I would like some feedback from his creator to see if I'm going i the right direction. He has Karel's outfit, b4t his personality is more of a mix of Navarre, Joshua, and Owain. **

**Since next chapter will be the official start of the Valm arc, I'd like to say this:**

**Thank you all for staying with me this far in the story! I feel glad that I even have readers who stayed past the travesty of the first three chapters, which I cringe at the sight of and rush by when making clarifications for continuity. Since then, I have improved a lot, and I've grown to love doing this. Sure, there are times when I stress over the time I have to do these, quotas for my attempted one a week schedule, and other things, but in the end this is the ultimate stress relief. I've even made a few wonderful friends through this story, and have a few others now who I don't talk to as much, but whose conversations I really enjoy.**

**Thank you all, and I'll see you at the harbor!**


	24. Stay in Your own Continent, Walhart!

**Emblem of Fire: Glad you liked it! I just kinda thought about the other myrmidons I've seen in the FE series, and went with a hybrid of Navarre and Owain.**

**Ace: Hell yeah, pirates! Nah, I was talking more to those that I have gotten to talk to only on VERY rare occasions, I still get to talk to you on occasion. Well, I rewrote the first chapter, and learned that rewriting something is pretty much the most boring task one can take on.**

**Pyro: He lasted pretty long for such a wimp, guess uber magic ability helps even the wimpiest of characters.**

**Cormag: Last one, although there of some that have already be introduced but not named yet. Those shouldn't be as bad though since most of them are fairly prominent. She essentially just hit the guy with chip damage until he fell, Lyn would be proud.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem, just certain OC's.**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

I walked into the nursery chamber in which Julius and Soren were currently playing in. Lena was off in another chamber playing with Lucina and Cordelia and Brutus' daughter, **Sarafine**. I found it very amusing how the two had inadvertently named their oldest daughter that, as it was shared by a character in the same book that I had gotten Lena's name from. Soren, of course, had been named at the insistence of Priam, and Aversa and Khrow had no objection to the idea as they were tacticians themselves and had studied Soren's work for ideas that we could use in battle. Tellisean tactics were very different from Archanean tactics, but they still had their merits in this case.

I dodged tiny balls of fire and dark energy, it seemed that those two had gotten their hands on the tomes again. Julius definitely took his talent from his mother. In fact, if the speed at which he began to cast spells was any indicator, he would pass both of us up by the time he reached adulthood. Soren, well, I guess he got that more as part of his Grima blood. Aversa definitely had good genes for magic, but Khrow was very poor in that aspect.

I gently reached down and pulled Julius' tome away from his hands and scooped the boy up. I tossed the tome aside, and Julius reached out towards his rather dangerous toy.

Soren let out a huff and launched a tiny flux spell at me, coming to his friend's aid. I let the spell hit me and dramatically fell to the floor "Oh no! You got me! Raah!" I crumpled like the monster in a movie, gently setting Julius down as I touched the ground.

Soren crawled on top of me, letting out a small cheer before his mother picked him up, causing him to let out a confused cry. "Kira, we don't have time to mess around like this you know, we're supposed to say goodbye to the kids and get ready to go."

"Mama…" Soren said sadly, a pout forming on the boy's face.

"Don't worry sweetie," Aversa cooed, her maternal instincts kicking in "We'll be back as soon as we can, don't worry. Now let's go see your daddy." And with that, Aversa carried her child out towards Khrow's office.

"Okay then. Let's go get your sister and go see your mother." I Julius grabbed my arm for support as we walked down. The young boy seemed intent on being able to walk through these halls as quickly as possible. I still carried him down the stairs, as I wanted to ensure that my child was safe. All the staircases weren't exactly the safest things for children to be around, so having five kids bumbling around forced us all to stay on our toes constantly.

When we picked Lena up, it seemed that the trio of girls had started a fight with their dolls. The little toys were all strewn everywhere. The three were all giggling in a small pile of dolls. It was very difficult to believe that these children would one day grow up to be the hope of an entire country, and even more so to think that older versions of them were currently trying to save us all right now. I had known of the matter at hand long before I came to this world, but seeing the children began to wear that idea out of my mind, and I knew that when I saw the adult versions of them I would always picture these precious children in my mind. I would have to do my best to treat them as adults, I know they won't want me to keep babying them.

The entire idea of this would have become completely surreal to me by now if it were not for the detail that one of our intelligence agents just so happened to be Derek's kid.

I walked over to the kids, first kneeling down to look Lucina in the eyes, since the others were slightly buried under their piles. "Now Lucy, what did you do with your friends?" I said in a teasing tone.

Lucina, growing nervous, hid her face behind a doll "Nut'ing." She said skittishly. The little girl was developing her speech patterns very quickly, but she was still having problems with her pronunciations, as was to be expected. She was much less confident than her older self.

I put my hands on my hips and puffed "Where are they, then?"

Two tiny hands popped out of the other piles and Lena and Sarafine emerged. Sarafine had a small bob of red hair similar to her mother's and brown eyes.

I ruffled Lucina's hair "Now Lucy, I'll have to take Lena with me, okay?"

As I picked up Lena in my free hand, Lucina nodded "'Kay, 'ncle Kiwa!" and as we began to walk out, she waved at us "See ya, Weena!" and Lena waved over my shoulder.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

After packing the things that we would need for the march, we went to say goodbye to our children. "Now Julius, I want you to be careful with your magic. No fires in the nursery, ok?" I wished that I had only been joking, but it had happened once before when we first discovered that he could already use magic. Most children were old enough to at least know not to start fires near carpets by the time they could use magic, but Julius and Soren were special cases, and even the most experienced of the staff members had no idea how to deal with such a case. At the very least, we were all beginning to adjust to it.

As I was saying this, Emm was saying her goodbyes to Lena. It seemed that she was finishing up. "Ok, Julius, mommy and I will do our best to come back quickly. I'll miss you very much." And with that I wrapped my son in a hug, tears forming in my eyes. I wished that I could take them with us, but it would be safer here. We had Agrona orchestrating guard strategies and most assassins would be scared off by just the name of Frederick. Frederick couldn't go to battle, but he insisted upon guard duty and had trained himself to such a point that he could keep up with Priam. In addition, men were rather eager to join my guard, as many of the commoners still thought of Emm as the true exalt and many thought of me as 'the people's royal' for my more casual demenor and close relation with the townspeople. It was much easier to travel Ylisstol when you weren't of the exalted bloodline, they didn't worry as much over guarding you.

I turned over towards Lena, and Emm came over towards Julius. "Now, you make sure to tease Lucy, ok?" Lena giggled at this "I will make sure to ask Lena to count every time yo4 tease her, so don't lie to me, ok?" Lena simply giggled louder. "But seriously, your cousin is the oldest here, so she is in charge. It's going to be such an awful rule, huh? She'll just order you to play with her all day." It was a good thing they were playing like this now. If we failed for some reason, they wouldn't be able to enjoy themselves for long. I leaned in and kissed my daughter on the cheek, right where her brand was. "I'll be back as soon as possible, sweetie. I want you and Julius to take care of each other while we're gone." And with that, Emmeryn and I left to face the intruders from Valm. I didn't know how long the war would be, but the sooner it ended, the better.

Tears streamed down Emmeryn's cheeks "We are going to miss so much. When we get back those two will have grown so much. We never even got much of a chance to enjoy seeing them like this, did we?"

"If I have any say in it, we'll be back before they are old enough to begin schooling." It was still a big jump, but if we could get back that soon then we would at least be able to watch the little ones grow.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, Crimson, you're staying out of this battle." Khrow said in a tone that did not allow for any objections.

"B-"Crimson began, but was immediately stopped by Khrow's glare.

"Crimson, you are carrying a child right now, so you should be glad I'm even risking bringing you with us. How do you think Gaius will feel if he loses not only his wife but his unborn child?" Crimson looked down, refusing to meet Khrow's eyes. "You can stay in the convoy if you want, but that is all. We aren't even letting Flavia come with us, and she's not as far along as you are." he then muttered to himself "Hopefully it'll be born by the time we can get our hands on any needed ships. She's our fastest unit, and we'll need her for scouting."

Martin held his hand out, forming a ball of fire in his hand "We'll pick up the slack. I'm good for more than just being a wall, you know."

Sadly, it seemed that we wouldn't have Cherche with her hammer to take out the knights, although with as many promoted units as we had we wouldn't really have much trouble anyway. Cherche and Blaze had stayed in Roseanne to help hold up the resistance. In the last letter he said something about meeting with the "War Saint" who lead the Chon'sin resistance.

I started the battle by taking a water tome and casting it upon the river as Emmeryn guarded me with her bolganone tome. Tendrils of water rose up from the sea and rammed into the knights that were guarding the Valmese ships. The force of the blast knocked them forward and their heavy armor caused gravity to pull them into the ocean. The water was shallow enough for them to be able to hold their heads up from the water even from a laying position but the weight of the armor combined with their soaked undershirts was much too heavy for any of them to lift themselves up.

The paladin to our left took his squad and attacked Martin. His training in Ferox kicked in as they surrounded him. The first cavalier jabbed at him and Martin merely caught the lance in his hand and pulled, the shift in weight causing the cavalier to fall off his horse. Martin tossed a fireball at the cavalier's head, melting it.

The second and third came around, both striking at the same time. Martin quickly dodged, and the cavaliers' blows meeting not their target, but each other. One took a lance in the stomach and the other a sword halfway through the neck.

That left only a cavalier and a paladin. Martin through a javelin that hit the cavalier's shoulder. Unfortunately, the cavalier still managed to hold on.

The cavalier jabbed his lance at Martin, who took the blow with his shoulder. His trump allowed him to take the blow without any major damage, but Martin still winced from the pain. With his other arm, he impaled the cavalier on his own steel lance.

Martin ripped the lance out from his shoulder, finding it to be a beast killer. Martin smirked as the lone paladin came. The paladin struck with his lance, and Martin used a blast of wind to knock the lance up, taking the opportunity to take out the mount. The paladin fell of and rolled for a bit before getting back up.

The paladin struck out again, aiming for Martin's wounded arm. With a rough shove the paladin managed to get Martin onto the ground.

The paladin held his lance over Martin's throat, one of the few places that his trump couldn't protect.

Before the paladin could bring his lance down, however, an arrow sunk its way into the man's neck. The man who fired: Gaius.

"Thanks for the help." Martin said.

"Well, I had already taken out the guards here so I thought I'd help you out." Gaius pointed at the two knights that had been guarding the area. One had a single slash running down the throat with a small stream of blood on the armor while that oher had died of a multitude of tiny slashes. Lethality really made a difference.

Against the middle set of knights was our replacement for the wrecking crew that was Cherche: Olivia and Vaike.

Vaike still had his hammer from Ferox, which would allow him to take the knights out easily as long as he got the right opening.

Olivia's job was to ensure that Vaike had the opportunity he needed to get the blow. She ran quickly towards them, getting a glancing blow that bounced harmlessly off of one of the knights' armor. The knight retaliated by lashing out with his lance, and she gracefully danced away from the blow as her husband jumped in with his hammer. With a single blow, the knight's armor caved in, crushing the man inside.

The second knight held his lance hesitantly, his mind clouded by the fear of the spectacle he had just witnessed. Vaike used this opportunity to hit the enemy as with every ounce of his might. Vaike telegraphed his attack to such a degree that an infant would be able to follow the action, but the knight was too astonished to respond in any way. With a single strike, Vaike knocked the knight's head off, helm and all. The sheer amount of strength that Vaike had was incredible, and his ruthlessness was just as astonishing. It was interesting to see him in comparison to the delicate kindness of his wife.

Emeryn and I took on the last set of knights. Using my speed to overwhelm one, I waited for the first to strike at me. As the blow came, I dodged with ease. I let this continue for another three strikes, dancing out of the way each time, before deciding to finally take out my foe. I rushed too quickly for him to block with a luna leaving a large but survivable gash on the knight's torso and ending the blow behind him. From his back, I unleashed an Astra, leaving grazes on his right and left arms and legs before finishing him off with a stab to the spine.

Emmeryn stood in the burning corpse of her foe, making a gesture that was the Ylissean clergy's equivalent to 'rest in peace'. "You really shouldn't toy with your enemies like that, it's cruel and disrespectful."

"Considering those two words describe our enemies perfectly, that's rather difficult to do, but I suppose I can try, dear."

"You hush" Emmeryn said, suppressing a small smile. She didn't like me making slurs like that at our enemies, but she also knew that was an accurate statement. She also didn't have that much room to talk, for someone who was a pacifist I had certainly heard some aggressive things come out of her mouth and some pretty dark humor. Then again, that could be because our county's noble court tended to make Grima look like Marth.

As the knights fell, Brutus activated his trump and threw Gae bolg at one of the enemy cavaliers. The projectile moved much too quickly for the rider to dodge and the enemy troop was impaled. Brutus winced as he pulled on the spear's chain, bringing it back into his hand. That ability gave him an immense amount of power, but each usage hurt him.

Another was taken out by Cordelia's javelin raining down upon him from his blind spot, piercing straight down through the man's skull. Pegasus knights were probably one of the most terrifying units in the army, despite the adorable looks of their mounts.

Another two were taken out by the Aversa and Morgan's twin Goetia spells. The sheer power of the spells caused the riders and mounts to dissolve into ash.

The bow knight brought his troop down. Derek ran towards the bow knight, dodging as an arrow came at him. The knight tried to draw another, but Derek's blade rammed into the bow, snapping it in two. With another slash, Derek decapitated the rider.

With lightning speed, Anna fried two of the cavaliers, their horses running off in fear.

Dan took on the other two. The first came at him with the lance, wounding his arm. Dan retaliated with a strike that rammed into the cavaliers back, killing him. The other one charged at him, but Dan got in the strike first. With two swift strikes, Dan took out the rider's lance arm followed by the hand he held the reins with. As the rider fell, Dan impaled the man's chest onto his sword.

Three knights took on Lon'qu and Lissa. Lissa used her arcfire to melt down the armor of two of them, leaving the men within as a pair of burnt husks. Lon'qu, on the other hand, waited for his knight to attack him. As the blow came, Lon'qu ducked under, getting two quick blows on the knight's shins. Before the knight could react, Lon'qu leapt into the air over the knight, getting a strike on each shoulder before landing behind him. The Chon'sinean finished the knight iff by grabbing the man's shoulder, leaning forward and slitting the knight's throat with his killing edge.

Two of the other three paladins brought their troops down, their horses leaping over the edges of their ship. Khrow and Chrom met one group while Priam and Robin met the others.

The cavaliers stood about as much chance against Chrom and Khrow as an ice cube did in Hell. The two moved as one, Every time one of the cavaliers struck at the pair, one member blocked while the other finished the rider off. Within seconds, the paladin was all that was left. The pair struck at once from either side. Khow dug his blade into the paladin's side. The paladin struck out at Chrom, who lazily deflected the lance before leaping into the air and severing the upper half of the paladin's torso from the rest of his body.

Standing next to each other in battle, Robin and Priam were comparable to Soren and Ike, although Robin opted for thunder over wind. With a massive arc of Arcthunder, Robin fried three of the cavaliers. It was unfortunate for them that they were not nearly at the level of skill to use Aegis. Priam struck at the other, who attempted to block only to find that Priam's sheer power was more than enough for he strike to go undeterred as it snapped the lance in two.

Priam threw Ragnell at the paladin and Robin charged it with Thoron. The blade impaled the paladin and the thoron spell electrocuted him from the inside.

All that was left was the commander, who was faced by mark.

"You want to take on a lance user with just a sword, boy?"

"This is no ordinary sword, and I am no mere boy. Underestimate me and you will feel the full wrath of the power of my ancestors." Mark said as he prepared his blade.

"I suppose that will be shown by this battle. Let's see if your mettle matches your words boy, because I won't hold back on you for something as small as age." The commander said before charging.

"Good" Mark said, smirking as his blade took on a golden hue. "Then face the full might of the Aether!" Mark rushed to meet his foe. The commander, seeing the speed at which Mark was moving, tried to evade. The paladin managed to escape with only a minor wound on his arm, but Mark's attack still took off the head of his lance.

Mark leapt back before springing forward again, flipping in the air as his blade ignited, turning himself into a pinwheel of flame. Mark struck the paladin, and the man was engulfed in flame. Mark walked away, taking on a more regal, confident step as he went.

"I had my suspicions when I saw his blade and how well he could wield it, but could it be?" I heard Priam mutter in a whisper. "That attack, that power, that stride! All of the signs point to it. That boy is an heir of the Radiant Hero, one unlike any that has come since the time of Ike!"

And with that, our first battle against the Valmese came to an end. The battles to come would be much more difficult than this, but we all held hope for what was to come.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Well, I think it's safe to say that my action scenes are getting better. I only mentioned the enemy units that were shown in normal mode, but the others were there, just getting their asses kicked by the other allied units off-screen. We also got to see some of the kiddos, yay!**


	25. Reunions

**Chast: I will not apologize for what I said to Walmart until Black Friday in Valm has ended, thank you very much. I also want to know where he gets lobster cheap enough to make armor out of. Yeah, there's tons of them. At least I haven't done things like "Tyrfing pov" or "Cervantes' Mustache pov", actually that last one would be interesting.**

**Cormag: Yay action scenes! What about baby Sue? (you know who I mean)**

**Notes: the main battle for this chapter was cut out, as Henry was the only important part of it up until Lucina's big entrance.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem in any way.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Soren pov_

I rushed through the dark patch of woods. Our group had been traveling near Plegia in the hopes of finding the shepherds, and a few minutes ago I sensed an cluster of light magic auras. The only people in Ylisse with that kind of aura were those blessed by Naga. I instantly knew that I had found them, and I took off so quickly that the others had lost track of me. Oh well, I trusted them to catch up soon. They were experienced soldiers, a little patch of forest wouldn't hinder them.

The first thing I saw when I reached the clearing was Lucina Felling a risen, her father standing behind her. It seemed that she was too focused on saving her father to notice one thing:

There was an ambush of risen waiting for her, one myrmidon, two berserkers, a sniper and a sorcerer. Of course Grima would do as much as he could on this front. Lucina had been a thorn in his side and he detested the descendant's of Naga, so honestly she probably should have expected it. Oh well, I suppose watching for these things had always been my job.

I launched a missile of waste at the sniper to keep him occupied as I rushed out to stop the myrmidon that was jumping out at Lucina. Hardening my flames to form a thin layer of mail, I jumped in the myrmidon's path of travel.

The myrmidon swung his blade, a clean blow aimed at the back of Lucina's neck. I caught it in my hand, pulling the myrmidon towards me as I channeled fire magic through my throat. With a massive exhale, I breathed fire onto the myrmidon that consumed it. Within seconds, the myrmidon was no more than ash.

"I know you want to save your father, but you need to take some care of yourself as well. It will be difficult for Chrom and my father to lead a group of people that they don't know, and I'm certain that our friends want you to survive, as well." I said, trying to keep the worry out of my voice.

"Soren?" I heard Lucina's voice from behind me.

"We can talk later, let's fight now."

As the two berserkers came out, we moved as one. Before the first could react, we had already pierced it on both sides with our blades, and the risen dissolved in a pile of ash.

The other attacked Lucina, who hastily parried, throwing the hulking risen off balance. I used the opening to cast Grima's Ruth. Needles rushed out of the ground, leaving a multitude of puncture wounds in the risen. Despite the wounds, the risen survived. Lucina whirled around and lashed out with her blade, decapitating the risen.

The sorcerer cast a waste spell at me, and I shadow traveled under and appeared in front of it. I took Clarent and dug its blade deeply into the sorcerer's chest, digging deeper until it turned to ash.

Lucina dodged an arrow from the sniper and closed in before it could draw back another arrow. Lucina swung her blade, snapping the bow in two. She whirled back around and with another strike split the risen in two.

Chrom pulled Lucina out into the woods while Robin and Khrow came by, doing the same to me.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I see you have a new cloak." My father said in an attempt at making small talk "Those purple markings look very similar to my own." In place of my old cloak I had one that was a deep black and tattered, as one would expect death himself to wear. Along the edges and the hood were several purple lines and dark magic markings. The symbol of Grima wasn't on there, but everything about the cloak screamed "Earth Dragon" to anyone who was familiar with the stories. The cloak had been made for me by another version of myself, whose army had managed to defeat Grima. In that timeline, Mark and Morgan turned against Grima at my urging, and Mark sacrificed himself to take the dragon out once and for all. In the time I spent in that outrealm, I grew more accustomed to my heritage as a descendant of the Earth Dragons with the help of the other me. This cloak was meant to be the mark of an _usurper_.

"Can we just get to it?" I asked "You've probably already discerned the truth considering that I introduced myself by my real name."

"Soren…" Khrow said, still confused by the facts in front of him. I guessed it was difficult for him to wrap his head around something like this, especially when he had a younger version of me at the castle.

"How did you come back? No, why did you come back?" Aunt Robin asked, bringing out the most important question.

"Grima…" Khrow began, realizing the truth. Mother had probably told him everything, which would save some explaining.

"Yes, Grima. The Fell Dragon, a being with the power to rend this whole world asunder, and can only be stopped by the power of Naga or his own. The dragon that will possess the two of you." I drew my blade as I tried to steel myself. "If I am idle, then I will only be allowing that dragon to use you as a tool to kill Chrom and the other shepherds. Mother, uncle Priam, Emmeryn, Lissa, Kira. They will all fall by your hand!"

"Then the dreams were real. Robin said, looking down.

I held out my blade "This was driven into Chrom's corpse by the two of you, and it will be the blade that fells you. I'm sorry, I know we can defeat Grima, but I can't find a way to do so without the loss of thousands of lives, possibly hundreds of thousands. I understand if you wish to fend for yourselves, but I will fight you tooth and nail to prevent this time to meet the same fate as mine." I desperately hoped that they would draw their blades, to give me a true reason to fight them. It would be infinitely more difficult for me to will myself to harm them if they didn't fight back.

"If that is what must happen, shall be it." Robin said "Without Chrom and the others, I would not have the life I have now, assuming I survived at all. I would have just been an amnesiac with nowhere to go. Khrow and I would have had each other and that would be it. I would never have met my friends, and I certainly wouldn't have met my dear husband. The Shepherds gave me this wonderful life, and I can give it up for their sake." I had expected such an answer from her, but I still held hopes that my father would try to defend himself.

"Soren, you are my own flesh and blood, my life carries on within you. If you of all people will draw arms against me, then I will not resist. I trust your decision, son." My father said, tears forming in his eyes. "No matter what path you take, I am still proud of you. I only wish that I had been able to see you grow into the man you are today."

I lifted my blade preparing to strike before my legs buckled and I fell to my knees. I dropped my blade as I realized that I couldn't do it.

Kira rushed into the clearing alongside "What is going on here?" He asked as he reached us.

"I tried to save everyone, but I don't have the strength." I said, tears forming in my eyes.

Kira immediately realized what I meant "Soren, it's better that you didn't. Grima followed you back, meaning you would have taken their lives for nothing."

"For nothing? Oh gods, I'm so sorry." I began crying.

My father wrapped his arms around me comfortingly "Don't worry son, it's okay, let's take you to see your mother, she'll want to see how you've grown."

"What about Morgan?" I asked, knowing that she had come to the Shepherds.

"Morgan?" Father asked confusedly before realization dawned on his face. "Oh. I probably should have made that connection."

I chuckled at this before replying sarcastically "Master tactician, my ass."

"That's Grandmaster tactician to you. Come back here!" Father said as he chased me through the clearing.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

I began to talk to the ranger who had called himself Will Treaty, and learned that his actual name was William, meaning his alias was pretty close to the real thing. Hmm,light blue hair and Silver eyes, hint of nature magic in his aura, and I felt a strong urge to draw my blade. There was something off about this kid. "Who are your parents, William?"

William looked down nervously as he began to fiddle with his weapon, the Parthia Bow. A small brand of some sort was visible on his hand."Aquila and Jaimie, Sir." Well, that explained a lot, but it left one major question.

"Why did you join us, then?" Shouldn't he have been with his parents instead?

"Well, over the years, my father began to be consumed by his goals. I love my mother, but my father had become a monster. Between him and the creepy rituals I would hear the grimleal conducting, I began to grow terrified for my life. When I was eight, Koto betrayed the group, and I followed her out. By the time she realized that I had come, it was too late for her to try and turn me back, so she trained me until I was about thirteen, when my mother caught up and killed her. I hid out until she had left, took my teacher's Valflame tome and left."

Well, that was definitely something that would be difficult to lie about, but still… "Can someone verify this for me?" I asked the crowd. This was Aquila's kid, after all, I didn't want to leave any openings for this guy to lie to us in the case that he was a spy.

"I can, dad." A girl who I could then recognize as Lena said. "He has been with us for eight years now, the valflame tome is now in Laurent's hands, and William here is my champion. I know you are probably distrusting of him, but please don't do anything to hurt him." Lena pouted at me, silencing any argument I would have had.

I hugged Lena " You've grown up so much, sweetie. Is your brother here as well?" I was still worried that the staff at the castle would be inattentive and Julius would get himself in trouble. He still had a few years before he'd be able to manage the magic properly, and the staff, while improving, still wasn't necessarily the best in the kingdom.

"Well, I haven't seen him in the last two years, but he's been sending letters when possible. He's in Valm so he's not exactly in a stable location."

"So we'll be seeing him soon, hopefully." I ruffled her hair "So this is your champion? I suppose I can trust him if you do." I turned towards William "But if you harm my daughter in any way I will break you, got that?"

"Don't worry about sir. The rest of the royal family has already made that clear. Julius has already called first dibs, and if it happens while he's not here it defaults to Lucina."

"Good to know the others are looking out for my little girl." I said.

"I'm not little anymore, dad!" Lena said, pouting.

"You'll always be little to me." I said with a smile.

XXXXXXXXXXX

_Brutus pov_

The woman who had once called herself "Heathcliff" turned out to be my daughter Sarafine, and apparently Cordelia and I were going to have a younger child named Severa.

"I want to spar with dad first! I need to be sure I'm using the Gae Bolg properly" Sarafine told her sister. The two had been arguing for a several minutes over sparring conditions, they were mine and Cordelia's, all right. Only our kids would argue over something like this.

"But I can't spar with Mom and have it equal! I don't know anything about lances, only swords and axes. I would either be losing horribly or decimating her, it's not any fun that way." Severa argued. "You can use all three, so it doesn't matter who you face!" she breathed in heavily, then mumbled "Miss perfect."

I decided to cut in "How about we let your mother relax for now? She took a couple hits during the battle so it would be for the best. I can take on Sarafine for now, then I'll take you on next, Severa. Let's see, Dolce would be the best match I can think of with her manakete abilities but she and Libra are meeting with their kid, so…" I thought for a second, before an idea came to me "Oh, right! Blaze's kid has Mystletainn, right? It would be an interesting match to see it against Tyrfing, right?"

Severa's mood brightened a bit at this "That's a great idea, father! I'll beat his pansy sword into the dust!" She was a rather interesting child, to say the least. At least she was asking to spar and not go shopping. Her mother could handle that stuff, I was awful at it.

And with that, Severa rushed excitingly to look for her sparring partner.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Geralt pov_

"Hey, you with the old man hair!" I heard a familiar, rather annoying voice yell at me.

"What the hell do you want, Mrs. Priss?"

Severa brandished her weapon "I want to spar with you. You have Mystletainn right, that means you are of Hezul blood right? Let's see whose line is better!"

The girl had half her mother's talent, half her father's determination, and all of their stubbornness. There was no way out of this, my parents weren't here so I couldn't use a reunion as an excuse.

"Can we use all of our weapons or just the swords?"

"We're going all out."

"Okay then, make sure to use these wards." I tossed a set of practice wards. They could be placed over blades, and a barrier would form for an hour that would prevent the blade from cutting anything. "I know they're boring, but the others would get pissed if one of us dies."

I started the match by throwing a ball of Rexflame. Severa easily blocked, Tyrfing enhancing her magic resistance greatly. Mystletainn gave me boosts to resistance as well, but not nearly as much as Tyrfing gave her. It was difficult to so much as land a scratch on her without a legendary tome like this. However, it was only a distraction.

Severa charged at me and I smirked. A trap went off, swiftly wrapping a rope around her leg and flinging her up about ten feet or so into the air. Sadly, I didn't have nearly enough time to tie it to a tree, that would have been much more effective.

I launched another blast of Rexflame, this one being a direct hit that managed to inflict minor burns on Severa. She retaliated by throwing a tomahawk which I deflected before striking at Severa.

Severa used Tyrfing to block my strike, taking advantage of the blow's force to do a backflip landing on the ground. She winced as she landed with her burnt leg first and I knew exactly what strategy I needed to take with this battle.

I kept striking with my sword and fireballs, forcing her to dodge constantly, putting more and more pressure on her hurt leg until eventually the leg couldn't take any more and collapsed under her.

I walked up to her, putting my blade next to her throat "I guess that's my win."

"That was pretty good, for a Roseannean of course."

"Pretty good my ass, you didn't land a single blow." I ran my hand through my hair, flipping it dramatically "It was fabulous, if I may say so myself." Oh gods, Uncle Virion was getting to me.

"You want to try again? I'll beat you into the ground this time!" Severa yelled.

"On that leg?" I asked

"This is nothing, I can keep going." Severa stood up before immediately falling over.

"You see my point." I said as I walked towards her. "Here, I'll carry you to the sick bay." I scooped Severa up as she began flailing for me to let her down, saying that she would walk. Why did someone so beautiful have to be so annoying?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Soren pov_

"Soren, what was the promise that we had made after our first battle?" Lucina asked me with an angered look.

"To defeat Grima." I responded immediately, hoping this would appease her but knowing that it most likely wouldn't.

"To defeat Grima-" Lucina motioned for me to finish the statement. I wasn't getting out of this one.

"Together." I finished with a sigh. Yeah, I hadn't really followed through with that part of the promise. I had felt that it was something that only I could do, but I forgot that it was just as important to her.

"And with that-" Lucina said, and she slapped me as hard as she could. The force would have been enough to knock the average civilian over. I deserved that. "That was for leaving me."

"And this," Lucina said as she cupped the part of my face that was not in pain and pulled me into a kiss, then pulled back before finishing "is for coming back."

"Lucina, we shouldn't be doing things like this." I said.

"And why not?"

"You're a princess, and I'm just the son of a beggar your father picked up in a field with no question. You're descended from Naga, and I'm descended from Grima. The being that my family draws power from is the reason that most of our friends are orphans, for the love of Naga! I hardly deserve to have a life, let alone the affection of someone like you!"

"Just because you are descended from Grima doesn't mean a thing. Before, I would have done the exact thing you tried to do, but you have shown me that your blood holds no meaning in the end. We will find a way to defeat Grima, and then it will be all over. If Grima's bloodline could produce someone like you, I see no reason for it to come between us."

I sighed, at least she wasn't lynching me for my bloodline like most others would do. The Shepherd were a strangely trusting group. "Then I'll also follow the even older promise?"

Lucina looked at me curiously, so I continued "That i would serve you and fight for you to the best of my abilities, at _any cost."_

Lucina looked very nervous at the last statement, but continued "If you feel you must, then I can't stop you, but please don't take that last bit too seriously." She reached out for my hand "It's good to have you back."

I took her hand "It's good to be back."

"Get a room you two!" Came the familiar voice of Lena. Lucina blushed at this.

"As if I haven't seen you latched on your champion's arm!" I responded, and Lena grew flustered in term. Don't say such things if you have no room to talk.

We were a rather weird group of people, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**An analysis to cover some things that may be confusing or off for certain characters: Khrow is not the type of character to give up his life for Chrom like his sister would, However he would for his son, as he views his son's life as being his own, as he continues the line. Severa no longer has mommy issues because her father survived longer than Cordelia, preventing the misunderstanding that led to her issues. She is still very prissy and also is jealous of her sister, but her issues are slightly mitigated due to having at least one parent alive for a longer period and a sister to lean on for support. In addition, due to her father she is more likely to hunt for a sparring partner than a probably would still try to kill Robin and Khrow, but she would be much more hesitant than normal now due to Soren. Growing up with one of Grima's descendants has altered her views on Grima a bit, although she still shows signs of her obsession with killing Grima and her whole deal with her father, but it's been dampened a bit due to having someone her age who could help her cope with the trauma she faced.**

**See you next time, and please leave a review!**


	26. Blazing Sea

**Well, I finally managed to get this done. My teachers were cramming most of their big projects in before Thanksgiving, and I had no wifi access over the past few days so I couldn't really do anything.**

**Reaviews:**

**Cormag: Magic is surprisingly easy to write well compared to melee. Yeah, I'm not all that good with writing snark, I'll have to work on that. They'll have more significance later, since I kept them in line with Lucina's group. The other two groups kinda took all the spotlight on the Plegia arc. No, I took it out since I already had him in the castle battle and the only point of that battle was to introduce Henry, so that map lost all meaning with his early recruitment.**

**Chast: Going too far would be if Laurent made a modified flying Kraken-crow.**

**Now for a list of the kiddos and their parentage:**

**Lena: Emm and Kira (Brother: Julius)**

**Sarafine Brutus and Cordelia (Sister: severa)**

**Soren: Aversa and Khrow (sister: Morgan)**

**William: Jaimie and Aquila**

**Joel: Conner and Maiden **

**Christian: Dolce and Libra**

**Geralt: Blaze and Cherche (siblings: Ciri and Gerome)**

**Xane: Gregor and Dylan(sibling: Jordan)**

**Dan: Anna and Derek(sibling: Sarah)**

**Also, the first scene here will be focused more on Joel, since he was kinda completely shoved to the side last time. Xane was as well, but his is less crucial to the character, since Joel's backstory is kinda strange compared to the others. It's admittedly a little awkward(Very), but it gives a basis.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem**

**XXXXXXXX**

_Joel pov_

I searched through the Ylissean camp, looking -or should I say sniffing?- for a familiar smell. I could smell the leather of the tents, the iron of the weapons, and the cloth used for uniforms, but I couldn't detect the person I was looking for.

Wait

My nose caught on to a very familiar scent and I immediately rushed. I also noticed the scent of someone else with her, but that could be sorted out later.

"Master Kyouko!" I yelled as I reached the woman.

"Master? I don't believe I've trained any students before." The swordmaster replied, confusion filling her voice.

"Oh right, I guess I should explain that." I began, realizing that I probably should have introduced myself or something.

"You're one of those future kids Kira told me about, aren't you?" The other person said, seemingly a male about the same age as Kyouko. Sometimes I really wished that I could see, but at least I had my Taguel super-senses to guide me along. Although some people could really throw me off, like that one 'girl' from Chon- ok, not even gonna think about it.

"Kira told you guys about it? I wouldn't think that he would give away such important information." Well, Kyouko knew him fairly well, but what about this guy?

"I suppose us being his two favorite students helps a bit with these little details. My fiance here has used that as a weapon against higher ups on occasion." Wait, this guy… this was that Marcus guy that master told me about? Well, it looked like I had saved at least one person, although I probably shouldn't mention that to him.

"Now, could you please explain what you meant when you referred to me as master?" Kyouko asked.

In response, I merely drew my blades, revealing them to be the very same that she wielded in battle. "Now, you once told me that if I could defeat you in a sparring match that you would let me try out your family heirloom, since you proved unable to wield it yourself." I could practically smell her shock as what I had stated registered. "While I doubt you can match the you from the future, at the very least I'll let my skills speak for me." That was the Chon'sin way, of course. Similar to Ferox's obsession with power, they believed that one's blade spoke louder than the mouth.

"Well, I suppose that I can not go against a promise, even if I am not the 'me' that made it. If you can hold up against my steel, you can test your luck with the Vague Katti."

And with that Kyouko began her assault. I couldn't see her strikes, but I could feel them. I parried a blow to the shoulder before dodging one for the feet.

While I was in mid-air, another blow came towards my chest, and I bent backwards as far as possible, narrowly avoiding the blade before turning into a back-flip, narrowly managing to move my legs away from yet another strike.

One last jab came towards my legs, and I quickly jumped before slamming my feet down, pinning the blade down. Now she could only awkwardly wield her shoto while I had free reign over both of my weapons.

I pointed my daito at her neck "And that's game. We can keep going, but I assure you that the result will be the same. Unless you want me to add the chains, of course."

"How did you read my attacks so well?"

"As I said, I trained with you at your best, your moves are much more predictable now."

"Well, I guess a promise is a promise. I'll let you try your luck with the Vague Katti, but if it doesn't work for you then I will keep it."

"Of course, if I can't keep it then we'll want to save it for any kids that you and Marcus have." And with that I began to connect once more with the teacher that had saved me when I thought all was lost.

XXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

_days later_

"So how exactly will we break through the fleet while still holding our forces intact?" Chrom asked, looking at the schematics set that Robin and Khrow had created. "We don't have all that many ships to begin with."

"We could simply muscle our way through." Mark put in his piece "We may not have many troops or ships, but we do have a large amount of legendary weapons, including a large portion of the twelve holy weapons. I'd say that makes up for a lot of manpower. They don't seem to have that many fliers so it wouldn't be too difficult a task to separate the ships from each other. Plus we have Ragnell and Valflame, and the fire should be able to wear through the ships quickly." Mark, you are pretty much Priam with a little tactical knowledge. It's a good thing we had his cousins, because if Mark was the only tactician he would probably try to solve every battle by throwing brute force at it.

Morgan threw in her piece "We have one advantage over them: Fliers. Aside from a few archers and mages, they don't really seem to have that many defenses against aerial attacks. We could send small sets of troops by air paired up for added force, and have half of the team stay back a little for relief. That way they could use bait-and-switch tactics to keep a constant assault from the air. It would take a lot of time, javelins, and tomahawks, but that way we would still be able to win with minimal casualties."

"Out of those two, I would have to pick Morgan. Putting people at risk like that is just senseless." Emmeryn put in, her inner pacifist put in.

"Well, I honestly can see Mark's plan winning, considering how strong the kiddos are." I began, and Emm glared at me "But I still would have to agree with my wife." And Emm smiled a little at this "While brute force can work on smaller forces, Walhart's forces will be using the same tactics on us. Guerilla tactics would be better in this situation. Although we also need to save resources, which Morgan's plan does not account , we should wait to see what the tactical twins have in mind before voting, and Soren probably has his own bit." Soren nodded while Khrow gave an exasperated sigh and Robin looked relieved. It would be stupid to forget about our more experienced tacticians, especially considering that I already knew the twins' plan would work.

"Well, we were thinking that-" Robin began, pointing at her brother who continued without looking at the indicator.

"We send a ship towards the center and light it. The fire would spread quickly throughout the fleet and consume them. If the plan succeeds, then we will be able to make it through with both minimal casualties and only a minor loss of resources.

"Hmm, never heard of something like that before, but it might just be crazy enough to work." Flavia said in a neutral tone, weighing the option.

"Those are my boys alright!" Basilio said, holding his tankard high.

"Boys?" Robin said, lightning crackling around her entire figure.

"Err, I meant twins!" Basilio said, holding his hands up in resignation. He was always hungry for a fight, but not so much so that he would anger a magic user. His resistance wasn't that good, after all.

"If you are done, may I put up my plan? It may sound risky, but I trust that the only loss will be energy and some weapon wear." Soren said, in a tone that seemed slightly grudging. He probably found the conflict at hand amusing, although his face betrayed little.

"This seems interesting." Khrow began "And we haven't seen your tactical skill yet, have we? I'd like to hear this."

"Well, we have five people who can use manakete powers. I vote we send them out, with some riders for defensive support. Why trust an inanimate ship to spread fire when you have soldiers who can breath it? It may seem risky, but they can easily attack from a range, which as Morgan pointed out they don't have much to counter against. In addition, there is a major tactic that could help with it: most men are still instinctively terrified of the manakete as a result of the age of dragons. That means that seeing the manakete rampaging across the seas will dishearten the soldiers, and morality means everything in a war, especially with huge armies that rely on cannon fodder. If your fodder lose their resolve, they won't take as many risks, and everything will fall apart. They may even rebel and do part of our job for them." As he said these last words, he took on a feral grin. He certainly was his father's son.

"One question." Robin raised her hands.

"Yes, aunt Robin?" Soren responded

"You said five manakete. We only have four: Nowi, Nah, Dolce, and Christian."

Soren reached under his shirt and pulled out a necklace. The stone on the end pulsated with an offsetting dark energy. "I'm not exactly a manakete, but those of major Grimleal blood are capable of it. As with any other contract, there is a holy weapon tied to our family. In our case, however, said holy weapon happens to be our very bodies, meaning that we are partially dragon and allowing for such a transformation. It does however, hurt worse than pretty much anything else I have experienced, which makes sense considering that we aren't technically manakete and we also are not old enough to handle it properly."

"So your plan is essentially to Attack on Titan your way through the fleet. I like it." I said, knowing that Soren was the only one who would understand the reference.

Chrom nodded "I think this plan would be best. Who will we bring for support."

"Well, Donnel and Libra, since they would work better alongside their wives than anyone else would. Xane also has experience in riding manakete from the past two years, and Lucina is the person I trust the most. I think the last will be Brady. Laurent would be able to spread fire quickly and would love the battle, but Brady would be better for support."

We continued the conversations, and the only issue that came up was the idea of putting Lucina in this battle, which Chrom, Emm, and I weren't particularly fond of. We made sure to let him know that if Lucina was hurt then the royal family would subject him to a fate worse than death.

XXXXXXXX

_Soren pov_

"Okay, first off: I am not going to let Xane ride me. It's been two years, it's someone else's turn to deal with the perv." Christian said as we began our preparations.

"I'm not that bad…"

"The first question you asked was where my clothes go during transformation!"

"That's a valid-"

"Maybe it would be a valid question if it wasn't for the way you said it. Plus there was the hot spring incident…"

"I told you that was an accident." Geralt had told me about that incident, and I knew that what Xane was saying was absolute pegasus dung.

"Okay, Brady can ride on you and Nah can take Xane, does that work?" I responded.

"Yes! let's show them what the healers can do!" Christian took on a very bright tone as she lifted a hand towards Brady. She was always more fond of him and Julius than most of the other shepherds.

"Bitchin' " Brady said as he high-fived Christian. He had a rather loose tongue for a priest, but then again those standards kinda degraded after the rise of Grima.

"Sure." Nah replied "If he says anything out of line, I'll just drop him to the sharks."

"Understood." Xane said in an unsettled tone.

"Well, it looks like our preparations are complete. Let's start the operation." And with that, I channeled the power of the dragon stone. I felt a surge of pain throughout my body as my form shifted. After a few seconds, the pain settled out as the transformation was completed. I couldn't exactly see myself, but from what the others had told me on my first trial my form was solid black, with purple eyes.

Lucina hopped onto my back as we took flight. I immediately felt a surge of power as I flew. So this was the gift of the earth dragon. I felt wonderful and yet terrible at the same time.

As we reached the first ships, I let out a blast of purple flames. The attack certainly didn't engulf the ship, but it did plenty of damage and it was spreading. The others each did the same and within minutes the ships were lighting as if they were lanterns.

In response, the fleet mustered what archers that they had and let fly a volley of arrows. Brady's eyes glowed a bright green as he unleashed a blast from Forseti. The single blast was enough to knock most of the arrows away, but a few still held their course. To be more specific, they maintained their course directly towards me. Lucina did a somersault as she traveled down my back. She grabbed my tail and used it to fling herself towards my foot. I lashed my foot towards the arrows and Lucina held out the flat of her blade, using it to deflect the few remaining arrows.

I used this opportunity to dive down towards the ship that had the largest number of archers, hooking my feet onto the edge of the ship. I let out a massive roar at the ship's crew, causing them to scatter in a panicked chaos. Screams of 'don't eat me' could be heard among the crowd as many went so far as to jump off of their ship's deck to test their luck within the waters. I let out a long stream of flame, refusing to stop until the entire ship was ed by purple and black embers. Now the fires were really beginning to spread, catching onto the other ships. At this point, at least a quarter of the fleet was burning in some manner.

A few brave souls began to fight back. Two such men were a mage and a halberdier from one of the ships, seemingly the captain and the first mate, who chose Nah and Xane as their targets. The mage began to charge a spell, but Xane proved faster as he swiftly unleashed Balberith. The dark wind overtook the mage with ease, tearing the man apart with a tornado of darkness. Within seconds, the man was dead, reduced to a pile of nerves, muscles, and cracked bones. The halberdier leapt off of the ship, brandishing his weapon in preparation to attack Nah. Nah caught the man within her talons and squeezed, eliciting a loud scream from the man before throwing him with full force at another ship to spark even more chaos. Nah winced slightly, being careful to only let her teammates see her disdain. This was more gruesome work than we would have preferred, even in the midst of a war, but it was needed. If we could not hold up the scare tactics than everything would be finished. If we were to win then we would have to maintain this ruse.

Nowi let out a gleeful laugh as she struck another ship, tearing a hole into the hull. The ship began to sink into the water as she blew fire at it to add into the spread. The girl's cheerful personality sent the men over the edge of insanity as they began to screech in fear of the "Childish demon".

One of the soldier's javelins pierced into Nah's hide. Angered, Brady came down and brought a massive gust of wind down upon the man. The wind ripped through the man, leaving multiple clean cuts through the man's flesh, just short enough to not kill him instantly but deep enough to leave him with no chance of survival.

They thought of us as monsters so that was what we became. The men's own fears fueling the fires that were devastating the fleet, with each small victory our chances of obtaining our goal increasing exponentially. Soon, the entire fleet had caught fire, the sea ablaze. As soon as we had confirmed our victory we made our way back to the camp.

XXXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

The group landed back in the clearing by the camps. After setting down their passengers, each of the manakete changed back to their human form. Immediately after shifting back, Soren emitted a painful grunt before collapsing onto the ground.

Nowi looked him over "I think he's used up too much energy. the power of the dragonstone is extremely difficult to manage, and usually hurts any without centuries of training. Nah and Christian were displaying signs of it as well during the battle, but have never seen it to this extent. It is possible that the stone itself may be rejecting him, since he is not a manakete." Nowi had dropped her childish act, and was being completely serious. We had all come to know that when Nowi did this, there was some serious shit going on and we sure as hell needed to listen. "I'd say that healing staves would only relieve the pain, but that would still be useful. If we make sure that he stays in bed for the entire trip, then he should be able to recover by the time we get back."

Khrow ran up to the scene, breaking away from his meeting with Chrom, Morgan in tow. "Well, he's not going to like hearing that he can't train. But the boy could probably use a damned break. We'll have to take shifts watching him, otherwise he'll sneak out somehow. I think Morgan, Aversa, and I can take a few, any other volunteers?"

Lucina raised her hand "If he tries to leave, I'll just threaten him with Falchion until he sits back down." Well, that would work. For the descendant of an earth dragon, a tiny graze from that would make it feel like he had lost an arm.

Christian joined in "Hey, I've dealt with him for two years, I can handle a few days, I'll also take one of the nursing shifts."

Xane signed himself up as well "I can probably get Geralt in as well, if not I'll just rough him up a bit to make him agree."

Finally, Brady joined in "We don't have all that many healers, and it's best to keep the ones he knows around as much as possible."

Khrow nodded, taking role in his head "Okay, that should suffice for now. Lucina, could you please carry Soren up to the Kraken's sick bay? I have to help with preparations, so my hands are tied for the moment, barely even managed to get out here. If all goes well, we'll be on our way in about two hours. I can't wait, the last few battles have been rather bland and I haven't had a decent number of asses to kick in two years."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**I'm very proud of this chapter, aside from that awkward start. We got to see more of what happens behind the scenes and we also saw more of exactly how Grima's bloodline works. The full extent of the latter will eventually be seen, but until then I'll leave that up in the air.**


	27. Tide of War

**And I'm finally back with another chapter for you all! Christmas Break just started here, which means production will either speed up or halt completely.**

**Reviews:**

**Chasticott: Yes, it would also be technically effective against Naga as well, but the weapon being used to kill Naga would cause the blade to reject the wielder and quite possibly burn their hand horribly. I'm guessing the dragon form kinda goes over everything else, so they're clothes in and of themselves.**

**Cormag: That is one of the mini shepherds. We even saw the strategies of all the tacticians. And Mark.**

**Pyrojack: He still has a less confusing background than William, once Nox is thrown in you get some Kingdom Hearts bullshit going on. EVerything except use light magic essentially, that would be like a demon drinking holy water, possible but extremely stupid.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem.**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

_Lena pov_

I awoke to the sound of shouting at my door. I walked over and leaned my head against the wood.

"I was just going to see if she wanted to go for a walk on the deck!" Came William's voice. I sighed as I heard his angered tone, knowing that there was only one person who riled him up like that.

Sarafine's voice came in a clear reply "First, Milady will not be going anywhere with the likes of you without the aid of a chaperone. Second, how am I supposed to trust that you do not intend to harm her? The brand on your hand should be enough evidence to distrust you, let alone the fact of your parentage." I winced a little as I heard this. The mark of Loptyr had drawn the attention of many towards him, and it was rarely positive.

"You and I both know that if I intended harm on any of you, the blood of the divine dragon would have made a small river right now. I would have been able to shoot the entire royal family down through their tents before the night guard came, and if the guard decided to call for backup then I'd be able to slip by with ease." That was actually probably true. As Silver never marched to battle with us, we only had two or three men capable of actually taking him on in a one on one fight, and his Noire had been the only person in the army to even come close to his archery skill at the time. We would never have been able to even come back here if he had betrayed us at night.

"I'm sure that I could take you on, Gae Bolg has never failed me before" Oh gods, I could practically hear her smirk.

"And Audhulma has never failed me." I heard the sliver of metal and felt a cold breeze blow under my door as the frozen blade was unleashed from its hilt. If I didn't hurry, things would become rather gruesome.

I pushed against the door, finding that a thin layer of ice was already building over the hinges. I put my body weight against the door as I shoved once more. The door opened and I began to stumble.

As I fell to the floor, I heard a very familiar voice. "Hey kids!" My father said before looking around "Umm, am I missing something here?"

The two before me immediately put their weapons away and tried to act as if they weren't just about to try and kill each other.

Dad handed me a plate as I sat up "Here, your mother made this. She sent me to give it to you since she had to go to a meeting." He pulled out a black box of cards. "Don't tell your mother that I also came with these, she was very angry last time I pulled them out infront of a group of nobles."

"I'll be going then." Sarafine said before heading downstairs.

A grin spread across William's face "I'll go get the others." William rushed down and returned with Geralt, Xane, Khrow, Laurent, and Severa.

"Ooh, Cards Against Humanity. I love this game, but Lucy would probably beat the shit out of me for playing something so vulgar. Good thing she's at the meeting."

"Same for me." Dad said, before looking at Severa "I'm surprised you wanted to play."

"Not like there's much else to do on this damned boat." Severa retorted "Even sparring gets boring after slapping the weaklings around enough times."

"Anyway, I'll be the czar first." Dad said before reading his card out "I saw the most curious play yesterday, it began with _, then there was _, and it ended with _."

I looked at my cards and grinned, I had the perfect one for this.

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_Silver pov_

Syrenne and I ran, being pushed back by the forces of commander Lethes. The paladin was one of the more powerful troops in General Pheros' brigade, and one of the three commanders that had led the troops in the assault of this port based on fake evidence showing this town as a hotbed for resistance activity. In actuality, we were simply drawing their attention so that Julius could meet with the leaders of Roseanne's resistance. We had worked with the other corps on occasion, and hopefully we would finally be able to cement an alliance once Blaze and Julius could sway their men on the matter.

Three of the men attacked Syrenne at once, and I yanked her out of the way of danger in exchange for taking a gash along my shoulder.

Lethes charged at us and with the intent to impale one of us on his lance, but we both jumped back, landing several feet away from the strike. "It seems you need a longer weapon, commander Lethes." I said as I drew Balmung, a smirk appearing on my face. "Perhaps the tree branch you have rammed up your ass would suffice?"

"Feisty words for someone staring death in the face. Men-"

"Luz!" I cut Lethes off as I let out my command, raising my blade in the air.

"Wrath!" Syrenne added as she signaled with a stream of fire from the Sword of Seals.

Immediately, a massive barrage of light magic was sent from a bishop and one hundred monks stationed within roome on the upper floors of nearby houses. The magic pierced the soldiers' armors with ease and threw the group into a bout of confusion. They seemed to have left a pretty good impression for their debut as a squadron of the resistance, Julius would be very pleased with the performance of his students

In addition, orange blasts of staff magic were sent at the enemies by the main group of clerics , throwing them into a blind rage that made them target each other. The entirety of Lethes' forces were rendered absolutely useless, and that was why I loved having hidden troops for ambushes.

"What was that you were saying about death?" I said with a dark giggle "I suppose I'll at least even the odds for you a bit." I turned towards Syrenne "I saw a ship full of soldiers heading into the harbor a few moments ago, can you go talk to them? They seemed Ylissean, so they are probably here to help anyway. They probably won't be able to mobilize their entire force, so just ask for some of their most experienced troops to make up for the lack of number. We may even get the shepherds." Lethes gulped as he heard this, muttering the words 'must stop her' as Syrenne nodded and ran towards the bay.

Lethes charged forward in an attempt to catch up to Syrenne, but I was faster. I knocked his lance into the air before reaching my foot up and kicking the man off of his mount. I stepped toward the fallen man and pressed the tip of my blade against the left side of his chest. "Say, do you know why they call me the bloody blur?"

"Your red hair?" The paladin said feebly. For someone known as the executioner, the man was rather thanatophobic.

"No, although that's a common misconception." I took on a feral grin as I rose my blade slightly "They call me that because when I appear on the battlefield, I move in a blur" I plunged my blade into the man's heart, letting the end of my statement being the last words the man heard "and within moments the blood of my enemies covers the streets".

As the man let out his last breaths, I wondered if I had been too harsh before realizing that the man would have been sure to relish my death if our places had been swapped.

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_Dan pov_

I stepped casually towards my side of the battlefield alongside Mark and Syrenne. My 'cousin' had insisted that she be paired with Mark on the grounds that they were 'amnesia buddies'. Cynthia, the royal pain in the ass, flew above us for scouting. We had split up into groups of four to five in order to cover every street that the small army was assaulting. The streets were all large enough to fit around a dozen soldiers in a line, but there were way too many for us to have split up any other way without spreading our forces too thin to protect the city. This force was less than five percent of the Valmese Army, and it was still almost as large as the entirety of the Ylisse-Feroxi alliance. Thank the gods that most of these troops were cannon fodder and not actual well trained troops.

We came upon the force of three resistance soldiers fighting a legion of Valmese soldiers. A cavalier in golden armor charged through the lines, devastating her foes with blade strikes from the Blazing Sword Durandal and breaking apart their formations, Soleil. She certainly went about things the Feroxi way, taking the path of most resistance. Ciri was flying through the air, hailing tomahawks upon the distracted enemies while my sister Sarah was jumping from rooftop to rooftop while launching beams of magical energy with her levin sword.

Well it looked like we had an outline of a plan. Mark and Syrenne joined Soleil and used their flames to separate the troops into smaller sections while Cynthia joined Ciri with air support. I unleashed the art that my father had taught me, causing myself pain in exchange for a massive increase in my precision, and charged into the troops.

First, an oafish warrior barreled in clumsily with his axe, an easy target. The lug attacked me with his axe and I lazily sidestepped whilst lashing out with the Regal Blade, slicing the rat's arm off. The brute attempted to lift the axe with his remaining hand, but I twirled around and severed his spinal chord before he even had a chance.

A hero charged at me and it looked like I would actually have a bit of exercise from this one. The man struck with his sword and I parried, although the man still managed to land a graze on my cheek. Oh, this was going to be some fun. I leapt towards his back with a twirling strike that the Hero blocked. The Hero returned with an unfortunately telegraphed attack that gave me the opportunity to grab the man's hand. With a slash to the stomach, the man's guts spilled and I threw him to the ground.

Finally came a general. I rushed the armored juggernaut before he could get an attack in. I struck five consecutive times along his arms, legs, and chest, but I barely managed to scratch the man with my attacks due to his thick armor. With a single deft lunge, the general shoved his spear into my shoulder. I winced as I grabbed the shaft of the spear and put my foot against his breastplate, lashing out with as much force as possible to land a massive gash while forcing the general to release his grip on me.

The attack put him in critical condition, so he desperately dug through his armor and pulled out an elixir. Before the drink could reach his lips, however, I kicked it out of his hands and took it for myself before reeling back and landing another, harder and more concussive kick at the man's helm, caving it in.

Seeing a lull in the skirmish, I snapped of the spear head and removed it before pouring the elixir onto my shoulder. Direct contact hurt like a bitch but it healed the wounds at a faster pace than ingestion would.

"I didn't know we had a villain in our midst. You could have shown a little mercy." Cynthia said in disdain.

"And there's the weakness that your father and your aunts had, thank God Lucina and Kira's family had a little sense. If you want to help your nation in a war, you'll need to be a wolf, not a shepherd. Every man that you show mercy could lead to ten dead men on or side, while killing one enemy soldier has the chance of leading to more dead foes, and can even win you the war if you're lucky. Do you honestly think those heroes that you adored were all rainbows and sunshine? Hell no, they got their hands dirty as well, and they did it for the sake of their country!"

Cynthia froze in thought at my outburst, weighing my ideals against my own.

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_Nox pov_

I launched balls of Valflame at my enemies, shredding through the enemy lines. I lazily dodged enemy attacks, although I knew that the wounds would heal me anyway. I was nowhere near as strong as I was before coming to this world, but the motions were so deeply ingrained into my muscle memory that I could read enemy movements as quickly as they processed in their minds. I suppose that's what happens after an eternal life as a mercenary. How long had it even been since the day I got that offer anyway? My physical body never aged, so I had no real indication, and even then I would have simply died of old age by this point, been released by this hell. For centuries I had nothing for comfort, not even the voice of my shadow, until Naga had given me this opportunity. My relationships with the others certainly weren't the best, but they were much more fulfilling than anything I have had for an extremely long time.

Arrows flew in a quick succession from behind me,and I turned to see a ghost from the past. William looked just as he had last time I saw him, although he was certainly much more lively. I saw Kira's daughter beside him, fighting perfectly in sync with him. They had grown so much, I could still remember when William was a child bobbing along behind me, his tiny training bow in hand.

They were the reason I had to fight. I had lost all rights to a good life to my sins were simply too much to ever be redeemed. I was nothing but a shell of a person, but that didn't mean that I couldn't help to save those who remained. I refused to let this world end the same way mine did!

A gryphon rider wearing a hulking mass of armor flew a few hundred meters away, one of Pheros' commanders. William launched an arrow at her that bounced off with a harmless tink.

"I have the materials for an incendiary, but merging them this quickly would weaken the solution. Plus I don't have a light." William muttered as he tried to think through his solutions.

"I can help with the latter." I said, forming a small orb of flame in my hand.

"Valflame?" William said in a confused tone, recognizing my spell. Damn,my cover wouldn't last long at this rate. "Well, I suppose we can do this then." William hastily yanked suplies from his bag before speaking in a draconic language. It wasn't the language of the Earth Dragons, otherwise I would feel a strange chill down my spine, plus that would drive any without the blood of Grima to the brink of insanity. It also wasn't Divine Dragon, that language would cause a descendant of Loptyr to bleed from the tongue… possibly anima? The materials he had pulled out began to glow a bright white before merging into a single substance. He dipped the arrow in the liquid and I lit it.

William let fly the arrow as it began to grow brighter, and as it connected with the gryphon rider the flames spread and quickly expanded to the size of a bonfire.

As I was distracted by the flames, William reached his hand out from behind me and pulled my mask off with a single tug. I had set the seal on it to allow my family, as well as those I considered family, to take the mask off. That probably wasn't a smart choice.

I turned around to face him and he immediately froze."Valflame, gold eyes, orange hair, you look just like my teacher, except male." he said in shock.

"Hello William." I said, keeping the calmest tone I could. Maybe I could turn this around. "Although I suppose you're a different William from the one I'm familiar with."

"Master Koto?" William said, tears filling his eyes. The sight reminded me of when we started our journey together, intending to leave home just as Koto and I had before I ended up here. He had wanted to get away from his father then, just as I once had. I suppose that was why I allowed him to come with me in the first place.

"Please, call me Nox. I have lost all right to call myself by my real name. I am no longer the man I once was, hell, I'm more monster than human at this point." William pulled me into a tight hug and I immediately noticed the massive height difference. He wasn't quite correct, but he wasn't very far from his mark, and I was his teacher as well.

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_Kira pov_

"So they're meeting up at the end of the hall?" I asked Silver, pointing at a pair of doors guarded by a pair of swordmasters. The building wasn't very large, but you want somewhere secret when conducting major negotiations like this so it was perfect.

"Yes, what do you intend to do? Barging into a room of men who are constantly prepared for battle isn't smart." Silver replied, although the tone in her voice said she was more curious of my actions than worried about the result.

"I intend to make an entrance and impress my son. I'll give you a bottle of wine if you distract those guards for me." And she immediately ran to tell the guards to make way for the Grand Duke of Ylisse.

I blasted the doors open with an elwind, and several papers flew through the space as I entered, giving an appearance akin to a cloud of leaves during Autumn. "Now who the hell told you guys you could make an alliance without Ylisse's consent?" I said with a joking tone "Blaze is a shepherd, after all."

The two heads of the conference, Julius and Blaze, froze at this.

Blaze walked over and gave me a fistbump before I turned to my son. I clasped a hand on Julius' shoulder "You've done well so far, Julius." I refrained from hugging him for now, I wasn't going to do that in front of the court here. I would, however, still mess with him. "Also, it gas come to my attention that you have several good looking women in your troop. Any you like?" I whispered in his ear before taking a guess "Maybe one that comes to services for the sole purpose of taking communion?"

"Dad!" Julius whispered back exasperatedly. It seemed that I had hit the mark with that one.

"Okay, I get it, that'll wait until after negotiations." Although I intended to hit him with a volley of questions as soon as it was over. "Khan Flavia is sadly unable to leave the ship right now, but the five hundred Feroxi soldiers we brought with us is pretty solid evidence that they will join as well." Soon, Chrom, Emm, and the tacticians came in and the bulk of negotiations began.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**And now we're finally starting to see a bit of development for some of the less established characters. Only like twenty more to go unless I start Isayamaing it. We also have seen a bit of Nox. If you were confused by his pov, good. If you now have pieced together his backstory, please do not mention it in the review. Save those guesses for pms because I don't want any accidental spoilers.**


	28. Rest and Relaxation

**Review answers:**

**Chasticott: Yep, I'm quite proud of those. Although my development scenes may be declining a bit.**

**Cormag: She's also one of the most natural to write. A full party of thieves**

**Pyro: Well, you can't expect them to forget their old lives, can you?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem**

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_Silver pov_

"Are you sure you're okay with this, Mark?" I asked the young tactician whose arm Syrenne was currently latched to.

"It's fine, it's hard to talk to you parents with just a few memories missing. I can't imagine what meeting them would be like for someone who can't even remember them." Mark replied with a small frown on his face. "Besides, I feel the need to take care of her, for some reason."

Syrenne smiled at this " And I feel much more comfortable having my amnesia buddy around at a time like this!" Feeling so comfortable around someone she barely knew, it seemed that amnesia wasn't the only thing wrong with her head. Oh well, there was no need to bother her over it, if Mark wasn't trustworthy he would have burned down the Shepherds' ship or something.

I walked towards my parents, Syrenne and Mark ducked down behind me. "Umm, Mom?"

"Mom? Oh, Silver!" My mother said as a look of realization flashed across her face. She had met us after the last battle, but we hadn't really gotten a chance to catch up. "You know, if it wasn't for the fact that we had you, I probably wouldn't have believed that you were my kid."

"Well, the resemblance is certainly more than enough to back that up. Honestly, I'm surprised that we only had two kids." My father said with a small smirk "We're kinda like rabbits, after all." Okay, that's a really disturbing thought. Dad looked at me for a moment, focusing on my forehead "That's my headband, isn't it?"

I gave a small nod in response "You gave it to me when you started training me to use a sword. It's taken a bit of wear and tear since then, hasn't it?"

"Sure has." Dad said, with a warm smile "That's a good sign, it means that headband has seen a lot with you. If half of the stories I've been hearing from the resistance guys are true, then that thing has been to Hell and back. Yesterday I had one of the guys bowing at my feet and chanting something in Chon'sinean, it was a strange sight, to say the least. Maybe I could get them to start giving candy to me as an offering."

I yanked Syrenne out from behind me. She wanted to meet our parents, she wasn't going to chicken out on me. "Too bad, they already give all their candy to this one."

"Care to share some candy with your father?" Dad chuckled, but froze when he saw the look on my sister's face.

Mom walked up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder "This is my cloak, isn't it? Could you perhaps tell me how you got it?" She tried to coax her by getting her to tell a story, sadly it was one that Syrenne could not recall.

"Oh yeah, her amnesia failed to come up in our introduction, didn't it?" I said with a hint of bile. It wasn't exactly a fun subject to bring up in this case.

"Amnesia?" Mom said with a shocked look that was shared by my father.

"Yeah, I only remember a few scattered things, so I can't really tell you much." Dammit, if only I hadn't abandoned her when she needed me. It was my fault that she was like this now.

Mom ran over and hugged Syrenne "It's okay sweetie, we can make our own memories."

"Yeah, you know as much about us as we do about you, so it's no problem." Dad said with a smile. Our parents may have been thieves and assassins, but they were still great parents.

I refrained from telling them the answer to Mom's question, it wasn't exactly a happy memory. Mom had given it to her the night our parents died, immediately before she rushed to face the risen that were attacking our home. Maybe she had meant it as a memento, knowing she wouldn't survive the night.

I felt a tear streaming down my face, and Mom immediately reached her other hand out to pull me into the hug as well.

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_Geralt pov_

Ugh, this was so annoying. Mom and Dad were currently meeting with the members of the Rossannean legion, which meant that I still had not gotten the chance to meet with either of them. Having been raised as part of the bloodrose legion I was used to the nation's army and its rather poor system, but this was just insane.

In addition to that, Ciri was off with her weird justice thing, and I sure as hell wasn't going to go and join them. The mere idea of that club was more terrifying than any 'evil' that they could ever hope to face. Oh well, she was old enough to make decisions for herself, no matter how stupid they were.

And Gerome was off on his own, isolated with that precious wyvern of his. The idiot didn't even want to talk to his parents, and was fully intent on pushing them as far away as possible. I understood when he didn't want to come back with us, I wasn't very fond of it myself, but here he had the chance to talk to our parents after all these years and he was just throwing it away like nothing.

I had absolutely no one to talk to right now, everyone was preoccupied with something.

"Hey Geralt? Want to train with me?" I heard Severa's voice coming. Well, that was something, at least. I had heard tell of her and Sarafine's training routines for a while now, and it would be interesting to see if the real deal measured up to the stories.

"Sure, as long as you're okay with some music to accompany the regimen." I hated training without my music going, it was too quiet. Plus the music pumps you up, which really helps to keep you invested in your training.

"Tch, that's all fine, but don't blame me when you lose focus." She said with a smirk.

I pulled out my boom box and looked for a song to play. I decided on "Ying Yang", an energetic song from one of my dad's favorite series. He tried to explain the concept to me once - something about masks- but I never really understood it.

"Okay, time to start. I sure hope you can handle it, I'd hate to have to carry you back to camp." Severa said, and we began her training.

I had been told it was hell, but that wasn't even close to describing the horrors of Severa's training. I made it about halfway through before simply collapsing onto the ground.

"Well, it looks like someone needs to work out more. I expected you to at least make it to the weighted running." Severa said with a wicked grin.

"I think I'm good." I said with a grimace. I had been to fitness hour with Brutus before, but that was nothing compared to this.

"If you don't agree, I'll just bring the issue up with Khrow. I need a training partner and Khrow will be all for you becoming stronger." She said in a lighthearted tone.

"Fine, I guess I have no choice then." Yeah, this was going to be hell.

"Good." Severa said as she helped me to stand back up. "Then until you can handle the entire workout," Severa gave me a light smack "Your ass is mine." She chuckled before continuing "It's surprising that someone as weak as you could beat me."

"Because I used my brains."

"What do you mean by that? I'm not a halfwit, you know."

"But you don't make use of your intelligence. If you thought things through more instead of just charging in recklessly you would be much more effective in battle. Good thing you have Tyrfing to get you by. Perhaps I could teach you some tactics and consider it a trade?" She did have the mind for it, there were even occasions when we had used her ideas in battle. Everyone, including Severa herself, always compared her to either Cordelia or Brutus, but really she had the potential to be as strong as both of them combined. With her father's determination and her mother's talent, the only limits she had were created by her own mind.

Severa thought it over for a moment, before smirking "If it helps me to beat the shit out of you next time we spar, then I'm perfectly fine with it."

"So my ass is yours and your head is mine, then? Because that's what I'm getting from this conversation."

At this, Severa laughed, a sound I didn't think I had heard since the day she lost her father.

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_Christian pov_

"Hey Christian! Brady!" I heard Julius calling for us from the healing quarters "I know this is a bit much, seeing as you aren't part of the Chon'sin clinic, but could you help us out? We're getting really swamped and could use help from some healers of your skill. I managed to get my hands on a few fortify staves which would really speed things up, but I'm the only one in the corps that can use them."

"Yes, sir!" Brady said, standing at attention and saluting. He was given a large portion of his training by Julius, even before his mother's death, so he held an immense amount of respect for the bishop. "A couple of fortify staves should be easy for us to handle, we learned from the best after all."

"Besides," I added "It doesn't matter if we aren't Chon'sinean, we are part of the resistance so it's our job to help as much as possible. Besides, I was trained in the Chon'sin style."

"Oh yes, you were trained in part by the Voice, weren't you?" Julius said "I forget about that sometimes."

"Speaking of Lady Tiki, is she anywhere in your company, perchance?" I asked hopefully. I hadn't seen my teacher since I had joined the Shepherds, so it would have been wonderful to see her again.

Julius' face grew dark at this question "We searched for the Voice, but we were unable to find her anywhere. There were even some signs of conflict at her shrine. Do not tell this to any of the others, but I believe that Grima may have gotten to her. If that is true, then her safety is extremely unlikely."

"Well, there goes one of the biggest signs of hope for Chon'sin. We're screwed without her help." Brady replied, speaking of her in a purely tactical sense as his eyes flashed green.

"Brady!" I snapped.

"What?"

"Don't speak of my teacher as if she's just some piece on the chessboard!"

"Sorry, that was Forseti, not me." Brady said, pointing at his eyes "I think I've used the tome a little too often, he's been taking over more and more often. That can be a pain in the arse, as you've just seen. He took me over while I was talking to Ma the other day and she nearly had a heart attack." Brady chuckled "And she thought that I was bad."

Julius pulled out a staff and handed it to Brady "This will help. It's an abate staff, which I created to help shut off the flow of Naga's thoughts. Even though she no longer takes control of her champions, the flood of several millennia's worth of knowledge is enough to drive anyone mad. It's modified for personal use, so you don't even have to worry about getting someone else's help with it."

"You certainly have a knack for making new staves, don't you sir? Maybe all of that knowledge from Naga is helpful after all." I said with a hint of awe. He always seemed to have a different invention for every occasion.

"Well, I'd leave the stream going if I thought it would help me find a way to make Silver come to church." Julius frowned "She only comes to a service if I'm holding communion. For Naga's sake, I'm a bishop not a bartender!"

"Think about who we're talking about here. Silver's a good person and all, but she's not exactly someone who you can rope into anything. If she doesn't want to do something, then you have no chance of getting her to try it. That's all there is to it, really." Brady said, logically.

"Yeah, I know that." Julius said, gripping his hair tightly "It's just, well, I worry about her, you know?"

"Don't worry about her faith. What did your dad always say?" Brady asked Julius, staring at him intently.

Julius sighed "We'll find out when we're dead. I suppose you all are right, but I still find this so frustrating. I suppose it's worth it for her, though."

"And that's why I don't intend on being with anyone outside of the church. Too much trouble." Brady and I said simultaneously.

Julius held a hand up to his face as he laughed. After regaining his composure, he said "We should probably get down there soon, at this rate they'll be half done when we get there."

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_Kira pov_

I walked down towards the recovering shopping district alongside Dolce, Derek, Blaze, Dylan, and Lena. In a few days was the anniversary of the Scouring, which was considered a major holiday around the world, especially in Elibe. For those of Ylisse, the day was used as a reminder of the power of the Divine dragons who helped those of Archanea in the efforts on their front.

The holiday was also the closest thing this world had to Christmas, so we were attempting to bring some of those traditions over here.

Which was why we were here, trying to buy presents and supplies rather than helping with recovery efforts from the last battle or training for the next. It probably wasn't the most productive way to spend our time, but at the very least i would be good for morale.

I looked over at Lena "So what's on the list? We'll have to hurry, we have an entire family's worth of shopping to do." While the royal family had all accepted the traditions easily, finding the idea of gift giving to be a nice addition to the holiday. Well, Lon'qu was against the idea of randomly making traditions, but Lissa managed to convince him that it held some merit.

"Hmm, let's see.." Lena said as she thumbed through her massive list "I'll cover any of the gifts for you, so I won't bother listing them. Julius wants to get Mom some magitech and Silver some… yeah, I'm going to let him come back later for that, and a bottle of Roseanne wine. Mom wants to get some books on magic theory for Julius. Lucina's knitting everyone tacky sweaters, but she would also like to get Soren some books on tactics, assuming we can actually find one that he hasn't read, which is in another list entirely. Cynthia wants to get Lucina a lighter lance than her main one to help herself prepare to use it in battle as well as some flowers and stings for her mother. Aunt Sumia wants to get Cynthia supplies to make a spear…" And the list went on and on. Had I not already been used to a giant family, I would have been daunted by the sheer volume of it all, but this was nothing compared to normal. The yearly family dinner always completely filled up my Uncle's house, and that was without going any further than my second cousins. As for extended family, I used to always joke that when I met women had to pray that we weren't related to some manner.

"Okay, I'll take half and you take half." I said before pointing at the things on the list that I intended on taking care of. Lena marked them out on her list and copied them onto another for me. I put it along with the list of things I needed to buy for Lena's presents and went on.

I was amazed that everything had held up so well in the store. There were holes in the ceiling and tears in the walls, even the occasional clawmark here and there, but all of the goods were completely intact. Rows and rows of statues and other icons that were common in the culture of Chon'sin, antiques and other strange bobbles, and finally things such as wreaths and mistletoe. There, that should help with our Christmas decorations.

Now to check out some of the books, that would be a good place to start seeing as that makes up the vast majority of the gifts I chose. Lena was taking up most of the weapons, so that should make things easier on both of us.

I froze as I heard singing coming from the center of the store. When I turned around, I saw that Blaze, Dolce, Dylan, and Derek were all holding each other by the shoulders while singing "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree." with the shopkeeper staring at them in confusion.

I stared at them, wondering whether to ignore them acting like a bunch of idiots or join them in their merriment. Yeah, I think I'll join them, it actually looked like fun and Lena was rushing over there as well so there was no reason whatsoever for me not to join them.

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**Well, I'm not very proud of this chapter. It's short and some of the dialogue felt very awkward for me. Plus I was later than I wanted to be due to being sick for pretty much the entire week, so I blame the Advil for some of that. Maybe it's better than I think it is, but I really don't feel like I did well at all with this chapter.**

**Anyway, have a merry Christmas guys! I'll see you next time!**


	29. First Blood

**Hey guys! I'm finally back after a month! I feel like I've gotten a little rusty, but all things considered I'm proud of this. Hopefully Star Emblem will be updated soon as well, if the barrage of homework ceases a little more or I get some snow.**

**Reviews:**

**X-ray: It could certainly be worse. Decent for writing on meds, that's for sure.**

**Cormag: Yay for specials! More scenes like that will come as well, hopefully focusing on some of the more neglected characters.**

**Pyro: Merry Month-After-Christmas!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem**

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_William pov_

"I can't believe they left us on crowd control duty, this cannon fodder isn't even worth the waste of arrows!" I heard Noire say from beside me. "They could have at least put me with Inigo or Owain, I'd much rather be with a real man than Lena's little pet." Ugh, why did the one thing she got from her father have to be mixed with her damned insane personality? She could have at least gotten his strategic skill, but no, we had to keep her from being paired with any guy who wasn't single because she'd end up hitting on him while she was supposed to be fighting.

"We're in Fort Steigner fighting the Valmese, not against a few risen. These guys may not be a challenge, but someone needs to help keep the others from being surrounded. Owain and Dan have to deal with the same thing, as well as Julius and Silver and even Lena over with Kira." I fired three arrows within the span of a second. The first rammed right into the eye of a soldier, another found it's way into a mercenary's solar plexus, incapacitating him. The last one hit the side of a fighter's head. That was the problem with conscripts, they were really only good for surrounding others on all sides, and a few masterful troops could take them out easily if they were all coming from one side. This was especially true for archers, as they were the swiftest once they learned to hold their arrows in the draw hand to cut time.

Three arrows flied in the air towards us, it looked like they had actually varied their forces a little. That was at least better than the cannon fodder that risen troops provided, although that was mainly because risen of that class couldn't hit the broadside of a castle.

I quickly let fly an arrow that split one of the oncoming bolts before embedding itself into the shoulder of a knight that seemed to be having trouble moving in its armor.

Noire caught one of the arrows in midair and fired it as she dodged the other. The arrow hit the blade of a myrmidon and split. One half landed near the left side of the myrmidon's chest, most likely the Aorta. The other half flew on, finding its way to one of the archers' throats. I suppose that's how powerful the Yewfelle was

We kept unloading arrows,although I soon noticed a slight problem "Hey Noire, how many arrows do you have left?"

Noire lifted her shirt slightly to display three quivers at her belt "Enough, why?"

"Do you think you can provide some cover fire without hitting me? I've only got a few left, so I have to make them count."

"I haven't been training with the bow this long for nothing."

"Good." I charged into the crowd and leapt, kicking off a man's helm for extra height. In midair I flipped and fired three rounds before drawing my blade, Audhulma. I switched my remaining arrow in my bow hand.

A swordmaster, likely promoted too early and likely the leader of this particular squad, struck towards me. I used Audhulma to block the blow, then pinned the blade down by placing the Parthia Bow on top of it. I rose a foot up to the bow as I used my remaining hand to pull back the arrow. I felt a numbing chill running along the blade as I drew the arrow and launched the arrow at the swordmaster's throat.

I quickly grabbed the bow back as a mercenary slashed towards my head. I ducked before using the bow to catch the blade and yank it out of the man's hand. With a single cut I ripped the man's chest apart, the blood freezing immediately. Hmm, that was the first time I had seen Audhulma's effect on actual blood, and it gave me an Idea. I stabbed the blade into one of the interlocking pools of blood and channeled some magic through it. The pools quickly froze and the remaining soldiers began to slide and become easy targets for Noire. Needless to say the remaining troops didn't last very long.

I turned to check on the status of the other squads and saw a familiar shape charging towards Pheros. Wait, what the hell was he doing away from his post?

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_Dan pov_

"You know, your cousin doesn't seem to be very fond of me. She thinks I'm some sort of villain!" I said to Owain as I stabbed a fighter in the chest.

"She doesn't know you very well yet, that's probably why. She also wasn't raised by my father, and that makes a difference in and of itself." Owain replied calmly before grinning "Now let's get to the fun, Blazing Sword!" Owain slashed his hefty blade, the legendary Sol Katti, through another axe wielder who wasn't even wearing a distinguishable set of armor. They literally didn't even bother designating some, that's how much trust they had in these troops. I suppose having odds of one hundred to one did make it a little easier to bypass proper training, so there was a good reason for it.

"You gotta go for the dirty blows, like this: Sacred Stones!" I rammed my steel boot into the groin of an enemy soldier, finding that he had neglected to bring a cup. With a single downward strike, I brought the poor soul out of his misery.

"Kingdom Hearts!" Owain stabbed a mage in the chest.

A hero who seemed to have no handle over the axe he was wielding leapt at me. "No More Heroes!" I yelled as I severed his spine with a single deft stroke.

"Xenoblade" Owain lashed out at a spearman, slicing off his arm before flipping around "Chronicles!" He finished the foe off with another strike aimed at the opposite direction, ramming into the man's side.

I went to stand near a ledge as I drew one of the enemies towards me. As the man jabbed towards me with his lance I grabbed it and spun around behind hi0, aiming a kick at his back. The man tumbled off the edge and screamed before hitting the cement with a sickening crunch. "Catherine." I said simply.

"Hmm, let's quit toying with the enemies for now." I said as I brushed away a strand of hair that had reached my line of sight "We can just go ahead and finish these guys off now, there aren't that many of them."

"Sure, but let's not take things too seriously. We can take them out and still have some fun." Owain Drew his bow Nidhogg and began to do trick shots. The soldiers looked on in fear as arrows bounced off the walls and hit any unlucky enough to be in their path.

"That sounds good to me. Electric Gutbuster!" I kicked an opponent in the stomach before immediately stabbing him before he could recover.

Two archers aimed at me and I quickly ducked down to avoid the projectiles. Out of the corners of my eyes I watched the arrows meet their new targets, each other.

Two Fighters charged at me. I leapt over ones head and onto his shoulders before shoving my blade into his spine. Owain shot the other one down with ease. I turned for a second to look at the main group. I saw a flash of red disconnected from the rest of the group, Sarah. Even worse, Pheros wasn't too far off. If someone didn't catch up to her soon, she might-

"Go help your sister." Owain said as he followed my eyes. "Their numbers have thinned down and I have yet to take a scratch. I'm pretty sure I can cover your shift here."

I nodded gratefully as I charged towards Sarah. The main group had the majority of the forces occupied, and those that weren't I could outspeed.

As I ducked around blades and weaved through the crowds, I saw Sarah and Pheros engaging. Sarah got the first two strikes, one with the Beosword landing a gash along the general's leg and another stab in the center of her chest with her knife, Peshkatz. Sadly, it seemed that she missed all vitals.

I drew closer to the pair, only ten meters or so away as Pheros raised her hand and formed a Bolganone spell that struck Sarah point blank. Within an instant my sister was reduced to nothing more than ash.

Pheros turned towards me, a stoic look on my face. "Another of you." She said as she looked at my hair, it did kinda stand out as a family thing. "As much as I hate to do this, if you will oppose my master's plans then you will soon reunite with your sister."

"To think you were once a woman of Naga." I spat

"Naga will not save this world from what is to come, nor can lady Emmeryn or even your little prince. Only through Walhart's strength will humanity survive."

I laughed at this "Let me tell you a little bit of advice from the future: Walhart ain't shit compared to Grima. Hell, I'd need both hands to count the number of people in this military who could already hand him his ass on a silver platter. Hell, the only reason you aren't dead now is due to my sister not taking you seriously. Because let's face it…" I gave her the widest grin I could as I finished my last statement "You're expendable, worthless to your master. Yen'fay, Cervantes, even Excellus is a bigger threat than you. Now let me show you how that little fight should have happened."

"You will choke on those words!" Pheros said as she formed another ball of fire and aimed at me. However, she found that I was no longer there.

I was right next to her, with my blade already in motion. With a quick slice, her hand was severed from her body, consumed by it's own flame. "I'll have to separate that from the other ashes, wouldn't want my sister to become mixed up with garbage." I held my blade up to the general's throat. "Before you die, do you want to hear something?" I wanted her to suffer, to know just how futile her path was.

"G-go on" Pheros said with fear in her eyes as she felt the metal against her neck. She was most likely simply accepting to buy herself a little more time, although she knew that her soldiers were in no condition to save her.

"No matter how valiant your attempts to fight Grima are, your army will fail. This is no question of strength or numbers, just a simple fact. There are only two ways to inure Grima: use a weapon that is tied to Naga and even then have merely the ability to put him to sleep, or throw one of his own kin and have a chance of victory. You will never be able to acquire either one because all people capable of doing so will fight to their last breaths to stop you. All you will manage to accomplish is the senseless conquest of others and the erasure of human rights, with the ends only proving how poor the means are." Pheros' eyes widened further with each statement. I leaned in as close as possible to her ear as I delivered the last line "In other words, joining Walhart was the worst mistake of your wasted life. You would have lived a much more productive life had you continued to follow the good lady." And with that I finished Pheros off. I immediately felt sick to my stomach as I thought back to my previous actions, I had gone overboard. Sarah always hated that side of me.

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"It is to my great disdain to say that we have lost someone who is of very great importance to us on this day." Julius said to the crowd of Shepherds, mainly us kids and those who were close to my family and Silver's, and members of the Chon'sin intelligence force. He had volunteered specifically to preside over the funeral, considering the death of any shepherd to be a personal matter. "To some of you, Sarah was the light of the organization, keeping the other soldiers in good spirits. To others, she was a trusted teammate who had your back at all times. Finally, to a few of you, Sarah was a close friend or family. Sarah died as she lived, caught in a world of strife." Tears began to fill my eyes as I thought of all that she would miss out on. She had always wanted to see what Ylisstol looked like before the rise of Grima. "We can't bring her back, not even Naga could hope to rewrite the future." Bullshit, although I suppose it would be overboard to do for the sake of one person. "However, we can fight with our very souls to create a better future for those to come." There was still going to be this timeline's version of Sarah, assuming that we don't cause Mom or Dad to die somehow. I swore to ensure that the world would be a better place for her to live in.

I zoned out, losing myself in thought as Julius continued with his procession. Before I knew what had happened, the service had ended and those in attendance were coming to give us the condolences. The first to come was Brady.

"Wait…" My mother said in thought. Oh gods, I hoped she wasn't thinking what I thought she was thinking. "You have the Valkyrie staff, right? Do you still have your use?" I sat hoping that Brady would lie, we didn't need to bring this up now. Hell, Silver may very well have forced Brady to need that use after hearing the reason.

Brady sat for a moment before replying "Yes."

"Then can you use it on our daughter?" Mom asked. Dad looked at the two thoughtfully, likely piecing it together.

"I'm afraid that I can't do that,ma'am."

"And why not?" Mom shouted "Is our daughter not good enough to be saved or something?"

"Mom, just stop." I said, and she stared at me in confusion "We have to spare the staff as long as possible. If it's used, it'll be used on one of the royals or the fellbloods, we need to keep them alive. Losing all of our opportunities to kill or wound Grima is simply too big a risk. That's something that we have known since we joined the military."

Brady looked down sadly "I'm terribly sorry, ma'am."

Soon, that crisis was averted and we managed to move on to the next set of visitors. Owain and Lucina.

"I'm sorry." Owain said somberly "Maybe if I had noticed sooner." Owain clenched his fist, and I put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, you couldn't have done any more in the situation then I did. Now come here, you big lug." Owain hugged me, tears on his face. Who would have thought that I would be consoling someone else in this situation? "I want you to go out and train later. The sooner you can return to your normal, happy self, the sooner I'll be able to recover as well." And with that Owain ran off to embark on a quest to regain his cheerful mood.

I looked at Cynthia "Why are you here? I thought that you hated me?"

"I thought back to what you said back on the shore. We need to hurt them as much as possible and in any way possible to ensure that we can keep as many people with us as we can."

"I could take some of your kindness as well, I was pretty harsh in that last fight. Sarah would have hated to see me like that."

I suddenly felt Cynthia's arms wrap around me "Don't be so hard on yourself. You lost someone close to you, we all know how bad that feels. Just remember that you still have us."

"Don't worry, I won't. Now go make sure that I don't end up losing Owain as well, he seemed a little too eager to go on a 'journey'." The young princess gave a salute before heading out. I may have misjudged her, she was more than some deluded princess, she was a kind person.

"I feel like that speech wasn't enough." Julius said as he walked towards us.

I waved him off "It was fine. Now go over to Silver, no one's been to her yet. I guess that's the drawback to not becoming a shepherd beforehand: only Chon-sin people who are too terrified of you to come near actually know who you are."

"Well, I have something to talk to you about as well, a proposal from my Dad."

"A proposal from the Grand Duke? Where is he, by the way?"

"I made him stay back, he's been to too many of these funerals recently, I'm worried about how the stress and lack of rest will affect him, so he asked me to check up on you guys for him. He said that the worst part of a funeral wasn't knowing the person was gone, but seeing the effect it has on those who were left behind. Anway, he was thinking of making a memorial of sorts in the fort after the war, with Sarah having her own statue."

"In the fort? Why would you put something like that in a military base?"

"The Valmese wish to cease the fort's action after the war. Dad suggested turning it into something else rather than simply destroying it. That way the fort can be used as a reminder of what has happened here and of the horrors of war."

"Yes, although if you do that I want you to put her ashes with the statue. That way she lives through it."

"You don't want to keep them with you?"

"No, I don't need her body with me, because I know that her spirit is right here."

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**And there you go, the first death of the series. It wasn't the most dramatic, but it sets the one at least. Also there is some more character dev now, and that's always good. Although it could certainly be more spread out. I really don't know how to balance characters.**


	30. A Short Rest

**Reviews:**

**Cormag: Now I have a slightly easier cast to handle. Don't worry, I will.**

**Pyro:yep, took long enough**

**Ace:The quicker everything gets out of hand, the more unexpected the scene is. That was already Owain's thing anyway.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem**

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_Kira pov_

_"Well, things are already looking a bit grim for us." Shade said_

We have lost one of our most skilled soldiers, yes, but in the end it will be our strategy that matters. As was already planned by the kids, if they can keep those able to use falchion and those who have Grima's blood, we will be able to make it through.

_"Wow, you've changed a lot from the kid who first came here. The old you would have been freaking out about now."_

We lose more soldiers every battle. For every soldier we lose,there is a family devastated, there are friends that are left with holes in their hearts. Every person has touched hundreds in some manner, even thousands in some cases. Against that, what does a single loss matter? Unless the person is a key to saving a large number of lives, not very much.

_"But if every loss is equal, then what point is there in saving the ability to revive others?"_

If you had a choice between one person and every person, which would you choose?

Before Shade could answer, an explosion resounded in the distance. Ugh, Laurent and Nox were probably off experimenting with their magic again.

_"The first time I show up in eleven chapters and this shit happens." Shade groaned._

What? Chapters?

_"Uum, you should probably go and do something about that. Miriel is more likely to go and join in than to actually clean up and Henry will do the same. not to mention Ricken, Aversa, and Emm are helping to train the others. You're the closest in rank under all of them, so you don't have much choice."_

Ugh, fine. And with that I rushed down the hill.

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_Soren pov_

"Dad, Aunt Robin, what are you doing here?" I asked with a confused look that was shared by Lucina "You would usually be going over battle plans or helping with Morgan's lessons this close to a battle." Our plans for drawing Yen'fay's forces were set a mere four days away.

"Well, one of the most important parts of battle is understanding the assets you have within your grasp." Robin said as she 'played' with some of her wind magic.

"So we intend to test the two standing in front of us." My father drew his blade and held it in a basic stance. "Assuming you don't mind, of course."

Interesting, but it probably wouldn't be all that difficult. If we played to our strengths, we should just be able to fight by ourselves rather than as a cohesive unit. "I have no problem with it."

"It would be nice to have a chance to test my skill. The two of you are the closest thing we have to Grima, after all." Lucina said thoughtfully.

"That's settled then." I said as I merged with the shadows underneath me "You take my father, I'll take Robin." Lucina wouldn't be able to handle my aunt's magic very well, after all.

I appeared behind Robin and fired a blast of blue fire. With a flick of her wrist, the flaming ball went into the air a few feet before dissipating completely.

Robin then launched tendrils of electricity in my direction. I dodged two of them one after another before blocking a third with the flat of my blade.

By the time that I was able to lower my guard slightly, Robin was within point blank range, preparing a rexcalibur.

I slipped back into the darkness again before appearing behind her, m blade already in motion. However, Robin had predicted my move and was already several feet away and preparing another thunder spell.

This time though, it was not me she was aiming for. Lucina narrowly dodged one tendril of electricity before a second twisted around and hit her in the back.

My father followed up on this by kicking Lucina before grabbing her and throwing her to the ground. He then placed his blade at her neck "How can you expect to protect your father if you can't even take care of yourself?"

I shadowtraveled directly towards him while swinging my blade at him "She can protect expect to protect him because she has my help."

As my father parried my attack, Lucina quickly sprung up and lashed out with her blade. I followed up with a two handed strike. While it certainly wouldn't hit him, it would help to keep him on the ropes for a bit. Lucina followed by coming up from below, which I added onto with a simple horizontal slash.

The two of us continued like this, but after he managed to keep up for a bit we decided to break apart to give me room for a large spell. Needle of darkness burst from the ground as I called upon the power of Grima's Truth.

My father leapt up and began to jump along the flat parts of the spikes. As the spell was about to end he leapt up in the air into a backflip as he drew a levin sword. With a single, massive blast, my father used the power of my spell as well as his blade to launch himself a fairly large distance away from us.

However, he hadn't noticed that Lucina had been sprinting since I cast the spell in case he pulled something like this. As he reached the ground, Lucina tackled him. She sat her knees on top of his chest and held her blade over him.

I felt a shock rush through me as I watched this, bringing me to the ground. Shit, I had forgotten about Aunt Robin. "You should never take your eyes off of one of your adversaries." My Aunt held her hand out towards me and placed the other in Lucina's direction before turning towards her. Good, this was my chance.

"You are in a position where you could take one of us out, Lucina, but I'm in a position to take both of you. I suppose that's-"

"Our win." I said as I appeared behind her and wrapped my hand around her ankle, holding my blade near her back.

You forgot about your opponent and I forgot about your abilities." Aunt Robin said with a faint giggle "I suppose we both have a lot to learn."

"You may not have ever been able to have your full training as a tactician," My father said "But your experiences in the other future seem to have made up for that. You and Lucina also work quite well together, I didn't expect the two of you to actually manage to beat us."

"Considering our parentage, what did you expect? I am your son after all" I said with a shrug. I had underestimated them myself.

"We are descended from the very best, after all." Lucina said with a smile.

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_Xane pov_

"Ugh why do you guys always have to go all out during sparring matches like this?" Nah groaned "You two will get each other killed if you keep doing this!"

"The closer to battle conditions, the more we'll get from our training sessions. The better our training sessions, the better our survival rate, we've been doing this since we were kids. Besides, we can afford to go a lot harder now since we both can heal each other." I said. Our lives had always been a trial by fire, so insane training regimens were important to have. The same thing goes for learning new ways to control magic, it was always a welcome improvement no matter how it ended up.

"You two do realize that you can only heal so much before it becomes harmful right? Why do you think Frederick the wary ended up being retired?" Nah huffed in annoyance.

"Well, that hasn't completely been proven yet." Jordan pitched in "We know that it does that to people who were conscripted at ages under fifteen, but there is no proof that it does that for those who weren't. We were both over that range when we joined the shepherds."

"But you had to heal after all your training sessions when you were much younger than that, right?" Nah pointed out.

I sighed "Point taken, but you have no room to talk, miss 'I use a dragonstone when I'm only eighteen', and you've been using it for much longer than that, too. You're not supposed to use that thing until you're- what, three hundred or something?" Nah winced at this, her own mother had brought the subject up before, and it wasn't exactly fun to be corrected by someone as childish as her.

"Just shut up and take this!" Nah said as she threw an apple directly at my head. I used balberith to both slow it down and cut it into eight slices with a single motion. I picked up a piece and took a bite, enjoying the added taste from the magic. Dark magic went well with everything.

"Hey, don't I get some?" Jordan asked, wearing a fake frown.

"Am I under orders to make sure that you don't screw up? No, that's Julius' job, Soren wants me to keep an eye on this one." Nah pointed her thumb at me.

"C'mon, Nah, you know you don't mind that much. We've known eachother forever, so I can tell you're just being salty." I said as I took another bite. Jordan reached a hand in an attempt to take some but I yanked the pieces away. No, mine.

"Well, I suppose that's true. How long has it been since you guys took me in? I remember it was around the time my foster family passed." Nah responded.

"About eight years, give or take some. The time portal confuses things a bit, just look at Laurent. You seem to have caught up to us in your gap, although it's kinda hard to tell with you." Jordan said.

"You've changed in this time as well." Nah said. "One of you has seemingly replaced his brain with muscle and the other has become a pervert."

"Hey, I resent that! I have used my brain quite a bit, thank you very much." Jordan stated.

"It was one time! The were the ones stupid enough to take me to the hot springs." I huffed.

Nah laughed "I was just kidding, guys." She then proceeded to pull the two of us into a hug "You may be idiots, but you're my idiots."

"And I wouldn't have it any other way." I said as I rested my head on her shoulder. She responded by flicking my forehead until I raised it.

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_Dan pov_

"Dan, are you sure you're alright?" Cynthia asked me. Why can't people just leave me alone?

"Yeah, just leave me alone." I needed time and space, not people in my face.

"Dude, you're not okay." Owain sad with an uneasy look before snapping his fingers. "I think I know something that just might cheer you up." Owain now had a small smirk on his face. I could tell where this was going, and it wasn't anywhere good.

"I'm not going to play your stupid game. I was never fond of it before, why would I want to do it now?" Plus it would make me look really stupid.

"If I remember correctly, I believe Sarah used to be one of us." Cynthia said. Quit tempting me woman. I will not start roleplaying and make myself a fool of myself.

"Well excuse me if I am not like my sister, princess." I was, I was a lot like my sister.

"You could play the villain." Owain said in a singsong voice "You would have some fun." Okay, screw it.

I flipped my cloak around, shaping it in such a manner that it not only covered my body but was able to form a long cape as well. I then fumbled around for a mask. When I found nothing, Owain held one out to me, pitch black. It seemed that he had been planning this for a while, not very surprising considering how intelligent he actually was under that guise of his.

I spun around dramatically, letting my cape flow wildly as I drew two blades. I ended the pose by leaning back and holding my blades out and downward.

Cynthia drew her lance as she hopped onto her pegasus, Fiora. Owain on the other hand merely drew his blade and pointed it at me.

"State your name, foul demon, before you fall by my hand!" Cynthia said as she prepared her lance.

"My oh my, you're a feisty one dear princess. You know, if one wishes to draw a blade, they should be prepared to be stabbed themselves." I said in a sneer before placing my hand at my chest. "My name is Cero, and I shall be the one to defeat all of you. Prepare thyselves."

"You should listen to your own words, Cero." Owain said as he prepared his blade. "You drew your sword, so don't be surprised when you get cut." And with that Owain charged straight at me.

I already wished that I had done this before, I was already beginning to enjoy myself.

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_Soleil pov_

I clashed blades with my mother. Even with Durendal in my hands, I was still having problems matching her strength.

My mother broke off before quickly striking twice with immense force. My hand shook slightly, the strain of the past five minutes or so wearing on me. This was the longest sparring match I had ever had to endure, and yet my partner seemed barely fazed by all of it.

I made a long and heavy horizontal slash, hoping to get her within my range. My mother simply jumped over the attack before flipping forward and kicking off my shoulder. I stumbled from the force of the kick, and decided to simply fall forward. Strength wasn't all there was in a battle, cunning was very important as well.

"Well, you aren't as fast as I am, although you seem to have gotten a fair bit of you father's defense if you could hold out that long. You may not have been able to take me on by yourself, but I'd like to see what you could do with that horse of yours. Need a hand?" My mother asked, holding a hand out for me.

"Yes, that would be very helpful, thank you very much. Sorry if that was disappointing for you." Mom had always commented that I didn't have the Feroxi spirit.

"That was perfectly fine." Mother replied.

I smirked as I grabbed my mother's hand. Rather than pulling myself back up I took both of my legs and wrapped them around her feet. With a single tug I brought her to the ground. I then proceeded to yank her arm and flip, bringing myself on top of her. "Never let your guard down, even around family. That's what you always taught me."

"Well, I'm not sure how well I did as a mother, but I can tell I did a great job as a teacher. Moves like that would usually be considered underhanded, but they have saved me on several occasions. No point in fighting a stronger foe when you can just throw dust in their eyes and stab them while their blind. I should have expected something like that."

"Well, it's no surprise that I managed to beat you that way. I did learn from the best, after all. You may be very skilled, but you'll never be able to beat the older you."

"Well, I'm just glad to find that I raised myself a true Feroxi. It would have been a shame to have a prissy daughter who couldn't carry her mother's legacy."

"If it wasn't for the risen, I probably would have taken your position by now."

"That you would. You may not have brute strength and you aren't the fastest person out there, but you certainly have the steel in your heart." My mother pointed at my weapon "It's easy to see why that blade chose you. Still fighting after you seem to have lost, now that's heart." I smiled at this, in the future it would not have been nearly as simple to get my mother's praise.

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_? pov_

Excellus stood beside me as we moved our troops. Behind us were a mass of men in chains, soldiers that had been taken from the combined resistance of the Chon'sin, Rossanneans, and the Ylisseans. While all these men had joined under the same unity, there were many differences between the various creeds. One such difference was the reaction that each group had to capture.

"It's time to fuck some face!" The Roseanne were very different from the others, as many attempted to escape, and all who did spouted this very phrase. It must have been something that their leader had ordered them to do.

It was a very stupid act to take on a general of the Valmese empire alone. It was an even worse move to do it unarmed. Yet worse, was doing not only those two things but attempting to take on a second general at the same time.

I sighed as I pulled out my blade, Amatsu. As the man neared me, I raised the blade up and jabbed behind me. With a single strike, my eight prongs had pierced through no less than three vital organs. With a light tug, I released the blade from its fleshy sheath, and the man fell to the ground as the last traces of life escaped him.

"My, you've become quite cold hearted over the years, Yen'fay." Excellus said from beside me.

"And you have developed an even closer resemblance to Walhart's nickname for you, worm. Now I fight for a new purpose. My sister is gone, but I shall avenge her. I met the woman who killed my sister once before, and that woman was a grimleal. Whether the resistance is aware of this, I do not know. What I do know is this: Milord wishes to defeat Grima, and down that path I will get the chance to slay the woman who killed my sister, so that is the path I shall follow.

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**And now here's a new chapter. As with every other breather chapter, I'm not all that fond of it, but it was still needed. Now, about Nah: her differences in character come from Jordan and Xane. Since her big issue was not knowing anything about her parents, having the children of two of her mother's best friends would brighten things for her a bit. And as their father is Gregor and their mother was a mercenary working wit Gregor, these two fit the bill.**

**I wonder who all will get the reference with Dan, or the one with the random Roseanne guy that totally wasn't Blaze's idea.**


	31. Burn Baby Burn

**Another chapter? So soon? Yeah, that would normally never happen, but we've had a ton of snow recently so I've had time.**

**Reviews: **

**Cormag: I forgot about that one, actually. The reference was actually that Dan's entire villain bit was based on Lelouch Vi Britannia from Code Geass. I also had Khrow say one of FMU's lines in Smash and there was a very blatant TFS logic, my friend. Trust me, that's a small mistake compared to some of my other chapters, it's just that they aren't noticed that much. If only I didn't need one pretty much every other chapter. Yay! 30 chapters, 100 reviews, and a good version of Nah!**

**Ace: And said references are everywhere.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem in any way, shape, or form.**

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_Dan pov_

"Dan, watch out!" I heard Cynthia yell as she lobbed a javelin towards me. I ducked as quickly as possible, but I still got a rather large gash on my shoulder. I turned back to see an enemy soldier skewered on the javelin.

"Be more careful where you throw those things, you nearly got me killed!" I yelled. Seriously, if I had been just a little slower, that guy wouldn't have been the only one skewered.

"It was risk killing you or just letting you die because of your own neglect of the surroundings. If anything, you need to take a look at what's around you."

"Kinda hard with this many soldiers around." I groaned as I swung my blade at a footsoldier. The soldier was too slow to avoid my attack, and his armor was thin enough for me to have no issues cutting through the flesh. However, my blade was stuck too deeply for me to pull out as a hulking general rushed towards me.

Luckily, I wasn't too far from some of the other shepherds. Laurent's gloved hand reached out towards the general, , surrounded by a dark aura. He clasped the man's face, and within the span of a second he withered to nothing more than skin and bone. "If only Chrom would allow me to use the enemy soldiers for subjects, it's a waste for them to just die without being put to use."

"I swear you're as disturbing as your father. At least he always has a huge smile on his face."

"And at least I wish to put my victims to use. If I were as brutal as my father then I would merely scorch them. This volcano does not even compare to the temperature of Valflame." Laurent stated coldly. The smug bastard wasn't even sweating, probably due to the fact that his family had a pact with a fire dragon. He certainly fit the role for a descendant of Alvis, I wouldn't be surprised one bit if he eventually decided to turn on us because Grima offered him the ability to study the risen or something.

"At least they don't go down without a fight, these guys have been putting Grima's forces to shame. If Grima could take these guys down, then the fell dragon was either so powerful that he could take his entire army on alone or he was toying with us the entire time." I said as I rubbed the sweat off of my forehead. Damn this heat.

"Perhaps Grima's six year slumber weakened his forces." Laurent said as he fired a wall of valflame into the middle of a line of enemies, splitting them. "Or perhaps his hosts were fighting back the entire time and had the upper hand for a short period. Whether it was caused by hubris or weakness, we most likely would not have survived this long if his forces were at their full strength."

"True, I suppose we should be thankful for that much." I said as I kicked one of the soldiers into the river of brimstone below us. It was a poor fate for any man, but it was one that was to be expected under these circumstances.

A tomahawk then flew towards me, thrown by a warrior. I dove forwards to dodge the hefty projectile before rolling and throwing myself back to my feet. When I met with the bulky man, he now had a silver axe in his hand. I quickly lashed out towards his leg, scoring a rather large wound before the man retaliated with an overhead blow of his own. I lazily sidestepped the attack before retaliating with a jab to the chest. With a quick strike, my blade found its way through a chink in the man's breastplate and into his heart. I planted my foot onto the man's chest as I pulled my blade out.

As I did this, I had to lean my head back as far as possible in order to avoid an arrow coming at me from the bow of a nearby archer. Said archer somehow managed to miss the presence of Cynthia, who came crashing down upon him in a blur. Cynthia's lance, Gradivus, pierced through the archers torso with ease. The man stayed skewered on her lance for a short period as she flew back up before he slid off. The man fell onto a nearby myrmidon, sending him toppling over the edge of the volcanic path.

As I looked at the surrounding area, I saw that breaches had formed in the lines of both armies. Most of the Valmese soldiers were coming in to the left on our side of the path while our soldiers were taking the right side down towards the Valmese commander Yen'fay.

At the very least, it seemed that the Valmese forces were starting to thin out. However, the same could be said for the soldiers that attempted to take on Yen'fay. The soldiers in our troop were rather unskilled for the most part, and were unable to deal with the multiple prongs of Amatsu and the hurricane-like speeds of the swordmaster himself. All in his path were felled.

Luckily for us, where they only had one exceedingly talented soldier, we had several. The Valmese army ran on quantity, not quality, and as such the average level of skill that could be expected of a valmese soldier was much lower than our own. Eventually, our forces managed to greatly limit their own and we were able to advance a bit. We still had a legion of soldiers facing us, including Yen'fay's personal guard, but we were now close enough that we were within a close enough range to see and hear what was going on nearby.

This proved to be very important, as Owain was currently charging towards Yen'fay.

"You are the swordsman who constantly shouts about his sword hand, are you not?" Yen'fay calmly asked Owain.

"Why yes, I am, however I believe that you have forgotten some of the more important details." Owain said as he drew his bow. "I am a scion of the hero king, I am the hero of an epoch, I am the spawn of both Ylisse and Chon'sin, and I" Owain fired an arrow aimed towards Yen'fay, who simply tilted his head sideways to avoid the projectile "am the one who shall slay you and liberate your people!"

"How quaint." Yen'fay said with a slight smile "I've been waiting to test my skill against one of you hypocritical shepherds. You have a similar fighting style to me from what I've heard, so you shall do."

"Hypocritical? This coming from the man who betrayed the nation he was supposed to lead?" Owain spluttered angrily as he fired three arrows simultaneously before drawing his blade and charging.

Yen'fay sliced one of the arrows in half and dodged the others before catching Owain's blade between two prongs of his blade. "As I said, you shepherds are hypocrites." Yen'fay spat "You claim to be like a group of shepherds leading your flock, and yet you fight us, leaving them to the wolves! If you understood what was best for your flock, then you would join us and defeat the real threat!" Yen'fay kicked Owain, shoving him forward as he raised his blade "We shall take over your nation, for the sake of your own people!"

Yen'fay brought his blade down, but Owain rolled out of the way. With a single fluid motion, he leapt onto his feet and began laying a massive barrage from all directions. I heard comments around me that the other soldiers could hardly follow his movements, but this speed seemed to be nothing to Yen'fay. He deflected each strike before finally catching one of them. He held Owain's wrist within two of his prongs. "Do you now see how futile it is to fight us?"

"So what if you're this powerful? You're among the best men in your entire damn army, almost all of the others are like insects under our feet. No matter how strong the leadership, an army can't stand with a weak foundation. Besides, if we don't resist against you, then all we will have accomplished is the acceptance of a tyrant in order to avoid another, there would be no point in any of it! My men shall be free, and so shall yours!" Owain yelled at the stone faced man.

"Those are rather strong words for a man who is already defeated. Perhaps your situation would be a bit more clear if I took away your precious sword hand." Yen'fay twisted the hilt of Amatsu, and a loud cracking sound erupted as Owains hand was broken. Sol Katti fell from his hand, but he caught it in his other hand. Owain pulled off as hard as he could, his hand completely coming off as he distanced himself from the swordmaster.

Owain charged at Yen'fay once more, and the swordmaster easily deflected the attack before swinging again and disarming him. "I find your willpower to be inspiring, but strength of will simply isn't enough." Yen'fay kicked Owain to the ground and placed his foot on the man's chest. "You have lived by the sword, and thus you shall die by it as well." Yen'fay brought down Amatsu, impaling Owain. Three massive holes were visible in Owain's torso, missing vital organs but piercing multiple blood vessels. That wasn't something that a normal staff could repair.

The mass of soldiers near me broke off a bit giving me an opening. I started to head forward, but I stopped when I felt a hand on each shoulder.

"Allow us." I heard the voice of Priam from beside me.

"We both have something to settle here." Nox added.

The two both made their way to Yen'fay, and the swordmaster prepared his blade "So here we have the descendant of the Radiant Hero as well as… a child? It's a pleasure."

"Child?" Nox said angrily as he drew his spear.

"Skip the formalities, Yen'fay. We both know why I am here." Priam drew Ragnell and held it at his side "Your army was a thorn in my side for a while there, and you've remained one for my friends since. You and your dictator will atone for the lives you've taken. I have no say in the workings of the gods, but I hope that the two of you serve a lifetime for every single one of my men that you have killed." He kept a steady tone, but the steel in his voice was more piercing than any volume could ever be.

"You've lost a sibling, correct?" Nox said as he prepared his weapon. "I understand your pain. You must feel as if that was all your own fault. You must feel as if you've lost half of yourself." Nox held his spear in a battle stance "I shall send you to the afterlife so that you may feel whole again."

Yen'fay threw Amatsu at Priam, who deflected it with his own blade.

Nox rushed towards Yen'fay as the blade spun through the air and made its way back into his hands. Before he could block or attack, Nox dug his spear into Yen'fay's leg. As Yen'fay rose his blade to attack Nox, Priam rushed up and finished him off with a massive slice that severed his torso from his legs.

And thus the King of Chon'sin had fallen.

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"It looks like we'll have to use the Valkyrie staff for this one, his wounds are far too severe for any healing staves." Brady said as he inspected Owain's wounds. Brady brought the staff out to save the man, but a shaky hand stopped him.

Said hand belonged to Owain. "Brady, save it for another time when you need it." He said faintly.

"Owain, you are a member of the royal family, we need to use the staff now!" Brad yelled.

"We never tested me for the ability to use the falchion." Owain said, his voice growing yet weaker "There is a chance that I may not be able to use it. If that happened, the staff would be wasted."

"But there's still a chance that you can." Brady said "We need to take the risk."

"Why take the risk? You can save it for Lucina, that way you are guaranteed to have the staff be put to proper use. Test Cynthia and Lena for the blade as well."

"But-"

"No buts, Brady. A royal who is unable to use the falchion is no different from a commoner in his situation. I have no right to take that staff when people like Sarah can't." Owain said with a grimace "My legend shall end here. At the very least, I died fighting for both of my families, my mother's and my father's." Owain gripped the ground beneath his remaining hand.

"Owain, I am using the staff on you, and that is fin-"

Brady was cut off as Owain used the last of his strength to throw himself off of the ledge.

"There's still time until he falls, I can-" Cynthia began, but stopped as I placed a hand on her shoulder.

"All that you will accomplish is burning up the wings of your pegasus. You'll just fall in and then we will be left with two dead royals instead of one." I said. Owain fell in before I could finish my sentence, further proving my point.

"I could pull him up while there's still enough left, I could-" Cynthia began again.

"Cynthia, please. I've already lost my sister and my best friend." I dell to my knees, tears filling my eyes as I wrapped my arms tightly around Cynthia. "Please don't make me lose someone else, I don't think I could handle it."

Lucina walked up towards the spot where Yen'fay and Owain had fought. She picked up Owain's severed hand as well as his weapons.

She held the hand out to Julius "It's not much, but we need to bury something. Please don't let Lissa see it yet, she's under enough stress at the medical tent right now."

"She needs to know what happened." Julius replied "You don't just hide this kind of thing from a person's parents, after all."

"But let's leave out some of the specifics for now." Lucina said "She certainly needs to know that her son is no longer with us, but we should break things to her gently and tell her the details in short periods. She won't be able to handle it if she hears all of the details at once."

"That much I can agree with. I suppose we can tell Lon'qu right off the bat though, he's better at handling such things. Besides, he will probably ask questions and worry Aunt Lissa unless we let him know." Julius replied.

"Exactly what I was thinking." Lucina replied.

The two walked up to me, and Julius placed his hand on my shoulder. "Dan, I want you to come with us. You were Owain's best friend, so it would be best if you helped to plan the service. I also think that it would be best if you were one of the people carrying his casket to the grave." Julius kept his voice as calm as possible while he said this, but it was still easy to hear his trembling. Tears were filling his eyes.

"Yes, I will help you all. Owain was my best friend, and I want to make sure that he gets the best." I said, trying to choke down my tears. Oh gods, how was I supposed to put my own best friend in the ground?

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_? pov_

"Hello, Yen'fay." A familiar voice burst out from the trees. Here I thought I would be able to enjoy the bloom of the sakura tree for the first time in over a decade.

"What in the nine circles of hell could you possibly want from me, Grima?" I spat "Were my family, my country, and my soul simply not enough for your unholiness?"

"You wound me, Yen'fay. You never agreed with Walhart in your time, so in a way you're just as much to blame as I am. Maybe if you had been a little more lenient, if you had told your sister what you were doing, or you had bothered to tell the Ylisseans what Valm was really doing, then maybe I would not be here today." Grima replied in mock pain.

"Just tell me what you want with me."

"Can't a god just want to spread a little of his majesty around while visiting his old friend?" Grima said in a teasing tone. "If you really want to know that badly, then here it is." Grima clapped his hands and two risen burst out of the ground. I could sense a burst of power emanating from them, deadlords. On further inspection, the one on the left looked almost exactly like my sister and the one on the right looked like… myself.

"What is this, Grima?"

"Well, it seems that in this not only did your sister meet a horrible end, it seems that you failed as well. However, I wish to give these two a chance to stay by each other's sides, and I wish for you to be able to stay with your dear sister. I'll even give you a bit of added power as well, along with this blade that is legendary in another world." Grima held his hand out and a blade similar to a killing edge appeared. Magic emanated from the weapon "The Kusanagi no Tsurugi. All of this will be your as long as you swear fealty to me."

"I sw-"

Grima held a finger out and wagged it at me "Ah-ah-ah, you need a little more than your word to swear to me. I need a way to make sure that you won't just take what I give you and run. All you have to do is-" Grima snapped his finger and a green haired girl burst from the ground, bound by chains of dark magic, lad Tiki " kill your precious 'voice'. That way I gain an ally and get rid of one of the symbols of the woman who betrayed me."

I drew my blade, apologizing to Naga as I held it aloft. At this point there was no longer any redemption for a man like me, one more sin would not cause me any more harm.

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**Well, there goes another character. Yen'fay's also kind of an asshole in this timeline, isn't he? Kinda makes sense given what happened to his sister. And now we have one of the things I've been waiting a while for, we now have super Yen'fay from the old timeline who seems to be fed up with Grima. Also, anyone who was wondering what I was going to do with Tiki… yeah**


	32. Artificial Einherjar

**Author's notes: And I'm finally back! Sorry for taking so long, I entered a writing contest recently and I had a major block around it. I also have a new Tokyo Ghoul story called "Diary of a Rabbit", but that's done in snippets and doesn't impede on my writing process. This chapter admittedly doesn't have as many scenes as usual, but what I would have done can be covered during the battle next chapter and I got to the point where I had to either stretch out a scene or make a tiny scene that wouldn't cover much or end up writing way more than my usual, which I don't intend to do unless I have plenty of time set aside to do the extra parts. Also, as the first Walhart battle is only important for the Basillo scene, I skipped it and opted to describe any changes in-chapter. That means next chapter is the arc finale.**

**Reviews:**

**Cormag: I was actually really sad writing that scene, I'm kinda attached to Owain as a character due to my first playthrough.**

**Pyro: Just wait, the arc ain't even over yet.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem**

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_Kira pov_

The flaps of my tent opened, and Emmeryn walked slowly in. Closing the tent flap, she looked around for a moment, searching for a spot that was not covered by a strategy book, almanac, text on the history of Valm, or a tome. Finding nothing, Emmeryn brushed aside a massive stack of books and sat next to me. "So what is all of this?" she asked, motioning towards all of the books.

"Oh, I was studying to see if there were any points we could use to get back the nobles that left after Yen'fay's death and going over anything that could be useful in taking down Walhart."

"I'm surprised, usually you would be training or trying to think of a plan to fight Grima."

I let out a sad sigh at this "I gave up on planning for him. Everything I thought of had some huge weakness that Grima was sure to exploit. The best thing I could do was give Basillo Armads as backup, and even that could go horribly wrong."

"Well, even if it fails I'm sure that Soren could think of something. He's been planning to take the fell dragon down longer than any of us."

"That's true. I still can't believe that I was the one who trained him, his strategies easily surpass mine. I also can't believe that my own kids are two years older than me."

"That doesn't keep them from looking up to you. They both spent time trying to learn your techniques, after all. You shouldn't worry so much about your age."

I let out a 'hmph' and looked at the floor " That's easy for you to say, at least you're a year older than them" Emmeryn wrapped her arms around me and pulled me in "Moving on from that sensitive subject, I thought of something we could do to help prevent any other catastrophes from happening. Although it isn't necessarily a very ethical decision."

"And what would that be?"

"To create an academy in which children of the nation can study war. Of course, we would always make sure to hold to the enlistment age of the time as to when they can be sent into the field. They would be sorted into classes based on current aptitude every year to maintain competition, and we'd be able to have a large corps of people who can each fight on par with or above the level of the average shepherd. We could call the strongest group in the academy class z- umm, I may want to change that name, it would just be bad luck." Seriously, what was I thinking with the name 'class zero?'

_"Yeah, good job naming them after a bunch of kids that ended up dying"_

"Hmm, I'll have to think about that one." Emmeryn said, holding her hand at her chin.

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_Blaze pov_

"Uncle Blaze, help!" Noire's voice resounded as she burst into the tent. She leapt over the weapons strewn about the floor with great precision, likely because she was used to the are by now.

"Lady Antoinette decided to perform an experiment on you again?" Noire nodded "An I guess Duke Legolas was too scared to face her again."

Noire nodded again "He's afraid that she'll just experiment on both of us if he says anything, and honestly I don't blame him. Mom's pretty scary."

I let out a sigh "He really needs to grow a backbone. Hell, your mother has pretty much singlehandedly caused a major budget deficit because he lets her buy whatever she wants when the year's new fashion lines roll around. The entire time I've been his general I've had to go out to appease the people because they were on the verge of a riot. In two years I had to stop five angry mobs and three coups, he's got more shit than Hoover did!"

Noire paled a bit at this "I had heard that the people were angry at my parents, but I had no idea it was that bad. Wait, who's Hoover?"

I brushed the last question aside "That's neither here nor there. The point is that your father needs to be responsible. Anyway…" I looked towards the back of the tent. As I was considered the leader of the Roseannean portion of the rebellion, my wife and I had been granted an expansive tent that covered nearly twenty square meters and had a height of two meters "Honey?"

"I'll hold off duchess Tharja until you can think of something." Cherche grumbled as she left the tent "Thankfully she never notices how out of character me asking if she wants tea is, although I've had to do it so many times she probably thinks it's my favorite hobby or something."

I rubbed my chin in thought "Now time to think of a plan…"

Ciri walked towards us from the corner of the tent. "I can help buy some time by going to town with Noire! There's this cool cafe I heard about called the "One-eyed Howl". Some of the people in the Chon'sin group have been talking about a band of bards that often plays there called "Haise and the Specters" and I'd really like to see it." She gave me the most heart-wrenching puppydog eyes she could muster in an attempt to persuade me.

"I really don't like the idea of you going to a coffee shop though. I don't trust the places" Ciri's puppy dog eyes intensified "Fine, you can go. But don't come crying to me if something goes horribly wrong."

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_Soren pov_

I sat calmly in the middle of the training field. The ground was perfectly flat, and was completely covered in grass aside from the circles of sand around the training dummies. There was a total of sixteen dummies arranged in a perfect circle, and I sat in the very center of it. In front of me was a copy of Ike, rushing towards one of the dummies. After the facsimile landed a strike, I flicked my wrist. Ike faded into particles of blue, which made their way back to my hand. The card held a picture of Ike resting Ragnell onr his shoulder, with the numeral 'XIX' on the bottom center written in golden time: fifteen seconds. Much faster than when I first began using them, but still far too slow for practical use in combat. At the very least, the rate of summoning stayed the same no matter how many cards I was using. Too bad the strain of using each one increased dramatically with each one I stacked on, and the time I could have each one out decreased as a result.

Mark and Morgan both walked into the field, a look of awe on their faces.

"Was that my ancestor? He looked just like the stories told!" Mark said excitedly.

"Brother, what kind of magic was that? Certainly none that I have ever seen." Morgan asked, more perplexed than anything else.

"Oh, they are called Einherjar." I said calmly as I shuffled through my cards. I cycled to a man with a red cloak, the numeral 'XIII' at the bottom. "I still can't use them for combat purposes, but they are perfectly fine for training."

"Training? Sounds like my kind of magic!" Mark yelled, throwing his hands up in excitement "Throw one out, Soren!"

"Are you sure about that, Mark?" Morgan said uneasily. "He was using Ike to practice, he probably has something even worse up his sleeves."

"Hell yeah I'm sure!" Mark said as he drew Ragnell "When life gives you, lemons, you blow them the fuck up!" Mark was certainly… eloquent with his word choice. He definitely took more after his father.

"Good, I was hoping for the chance to try this one out. You will both team up against him, since while he's weakened greatly from his original state, he still has some dangerous tricks up his sleeve." I crushed the card with the 'XIII' on it. The energy that came out formed a tall wiry man with light brown hair and dark brown eyes. He wore a red cloak that reached all the way to his chin with several straps that were all loosened aside from the ones at his neck as well as a long sleeved green shirt that barely reached his waist. He wore tan pants and a pair of dark green boots that reached almost to his knees. Those didn't look like they helped his maneuverability much, but he really didn't need to run much these days. On his hand was a tattoo of a rhombus with four pointed shapes branching from each point. In his other hand he held a bone white blade the size of a broadsword with a curve tip for added impact. Aside from a grey crossguard and a ruby on the pommel, the weapon held no trace of color. The man was Matthew, although this version was very different from the one depicted by the legends. "You called?" Matthew asked quizzically.

I pointed at Mark and Morgan "I need you to spar with these two. Keep in mind that I said 'spar' and not 'fight', I need you to make sure not to kill them."

"That should be a simple task for Avvenire and I." Matthew said as he brandished the blade. "Who wishes to take the first shot?"

Mark quickly answered with a blast of fire from Ragnell. Matthew swung his blade at the blast, causing it to dissolve into small embers as it counteracted the magic. With lightning speeds he dodged two attacks from Morgan's goetia and parried as Mark tried to strike with Aether. Mark crashed the full force of the luna against the sideways blade, but Matthew still held it in a single hand without any issues.

"What do you fight for?" Matthew asked as he pushed Mark's blade away, turning Mark along with it.

"To defeat Grima! To take back the future!" Marak said as he charged again. A blast of Goetia was aimed at his back.

"Hmm, so you aren't that different from me." Matthew said as he grabbed Mark's hand." But the future is not something you can simply grasp!" He threw Mark into the blast. Blood poured out of his side. It seemed that Morgan had not dulled the blow because she had expected the attack to hit Matthew. "The future is a weapon that you must learn how to wield! Everyone has the future in their hands already, the victor is merely the one who learns to mold it to his own advantage."

Five missiles of Goetia came at Matthew in quick succession, only for Matthew to slice through every single one of them with a swift precision. "Trying to get the jump on me by gathering distance, eh? That isn't going to work on me!"

Matthew vanished into thin air, crossing a distance of no less than fifty meters and appearing right in front of Morgan as he lashed out with his blade. Morgan narrowly managed to guard, being pushed back more than a foot by the strike. A deep line of dirt was formed in the grass from the force of Morgan's skidding.

Next, Matthew began to toy with Morgan since Mark was still on the ground. He teleported away from a Goetia spell, and then another, and another, and another. Soon, Morgan began to fire a massive barrage, only for every attack to whiff past him.

Matthew decided to stop messing around and attacked her once more, but he found that Morgan was no longer in the intended area. Instead, Matthew was met with a Goetia blast from Morgan that landed on his leg. Matthew tried to attack again, and found that once more Morgan was several feet away. No matter how many times he tried to attack, Morgan was out of reach. She had learned to predict his attack patterns, leaving Matthew's ability completely useless.

Matthew, made one final lunge with his blade, striking with as much force as possible while Morgan built up a massive Goetia. Rather than dodging, however, Morgan responded by catching the weapon with her bare hand. Dragonskin.

"H-how? My attacks pushed you back before!" Matthew sputtered out in shock as Morgan pointed the Goetia at him.

"Simple, I knew that you would simply teleport away if I tried this sooner, so I let you push me back. With you thinking that I was no threat whatsoever, I was free to study your attack patterns and learn where you would go next." Morgan gave a sweet yet sinister smile "For someone who freely gives lectures about the future, you certainly don't have very much talent predicting it." Morgan said as she fired the Goetia.

Matthew teleported once more to escape the attack, only to be cut by a slash of flame. Mark stood on one knee, coughing up a small amount of blood as he dug his blade into the ground. "Looks like we know how to take advantage of the future."

"Well done." Matthew said as he disappeared into blue mist and became a card again. Thirteen, the number of death, of great change. For a man marked by such a number, a lesson about seeing the future was a fitting one. Hopefully those two learned it in more than a battle sense, but considering that battle was the basis of their entire lives it was doubtful.

"That was fun, we should do it again!" Mark said cheerfully. Too cheerfully for being in his condition.

"This coming from a guy with a hole in his ribcage." Morgan said before sighing "You're hopeless, you know that?"

"Come on, we both know that you enjoyed it as well. Besides, that kind of training gives us plenty of opportunities to find ways to impress our parents!" Mark said excitedly before starting another coughing fit, albeit with less blood this time. I threw an elixir at him that landed on one of the places on his chest the wasn't wounded. He quickly pulled the top off before chugging the drink. His muscle quickly began to regenerate as his skin sewed itself back together.

"I suppose that I wouldn't mind being able to show father how good of a tactician I've become." Morgan conceded.

"And I could show dad how much my swordsmanship has improved!" Mark said, reminding me of a question I had honestly meant to ask much sooner.

"Mark, I've noticed that you talk about your father a lot, but you only mention your mother if tactics are mentioned. If I remember correctly, you also told me that you could remember bits and pieces of your time with Grima. Do you have a worsened opinion of your mother because of that?" Mark's eyes seemed to glaze over as a sad and terrified look made its way across his face.

"Do you promise not to tell mother?" Mark asked.

"Your mother was the one who asked me. She knew that you wouldn't tell her anything. She's worried about you and your life with Grima, as any parent would be. To be honest, your memory is more of a curse than a blessing."

"I suppose that you can tell her, if she's really that worried about it. I can't remember everything but… Grima wasn't the worst person to be around, admittedly, but there were certain… quirks about him. Mom and Uncle Khrow fought back a lot, so there were three separate personalities often manifesting, two of which not being as they should. When one of them was gaining power, the conflict still continued as vigorously as usual within their heads, so rather than my kind mother or uncle or even Grima I would get a monster. The conflict would spread into their body and they would have erratic muscle spasms, often destroying things or even… lashing out at us. Even at his best he wasn't exactly the best guardian, treating us as a prince and a princess to be groomed into his heirs rather than as children to be loved and cared for, and it was clear that he wished that he had you rather than the two of us. He eventually began to allow Mother and Khrow out once in a while to prevent them from fighting, but they were always so deeply in tears when they saw us that they never truly raised us. They only held us tightly as they cried out their apologies for our lack of a lifestyle fit for children our age, and they became more and more broken every time they came out until eventually they became nothing more than tears, shriveled husks of who they used to be. I can only remember the time from when I was four to when I was seven, so for all I know they may no longer even exist within Grima, or they may have become just other parts of himself rather than their own separate personalities. Worst of all was our instructor, Aquila. William told me that Aquila used to be a kind man before the events at the dragon table, but I never saw what he used to be. I was faced with the monster he became after whatever the hell happened to him that day. Exceedingly aggressive training session, testing hexes on us, leaving wounds unhealed after sparring, considering it to be beneath him to help mere mortals, I can perfectly understand why William ran away."

Morgan wrapped her arms around Mark and I did the same. "You can talk to us about this stuff, you know. Don't hold it all in." Morgan said.

"You can trust you family, even- no, especially your mother. You weren't loved enough during your early years, so we'll just have to make up for it with the time we still have left on this earth." I added.

"Don't worry, I'm okay when I'm around you guys. The two of you, Priam, and Syrenne make me feel comfortable."

"Speaking of Syrenne, I noticed that you two were both missing from camp for a period yesterday" I said, realizing that Mark may want us to give him some room.

Mark blushed "Hey, it's nothing like what you-"

"Oh, how did you know what I was thinking?" I teased, ruffling Mark's hair "As long as you can keep it in your robe, I won't tell anyone."

"No promises from me though." Morgan said in a teasing voice, and my sister and I laughed as Mark got all flustered. After a few seconds, he began to laugh with us.

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**To be honest, I feel like I seriously overdid it as far as Mark's backstory, but I honestly didn't have anything worthwhile that wouldn't have made the chapter longer than I could hold well. I also did kinda need to cover that bit of things because Mark's altered backstory needed to be addressed eventually. The ending was abrupt too and - ugh, I've gotten really rusty. Hopefully the next chapter will be better, because I'm honestly not too proud of this one.**

**Anyway, challenge: I want to see how many references each of you can catch that were in this chapter!**


	33. Dear Sister

**Author's notes: Welcome back already, guys! That went faster than expected, honestly.**

**Reviews:**

**Cormag: Hell yeah for class 0! **

**And he's still not fully developed yet.**

**Not to mention all the puns about his weapon.**

**Ace: I meant Herbert Hoover, but that one works just as well.**

**So long as Mark doesn't have any sugar on his cheeks or neck it's fine.**

**Pyro: Well, when a human is raised by a dragon who doesn't honestly know how humans work and who considers the kid an earth dragon rather than a human things kinda go south.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem**

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_Inigo pov_

"As many of you know, a large number of Ylissean nobles turned traitor with the death of Yen'fay." Chrom said to the crowd of men amassed around us. We were currently standing on a hilltop outside of Walhart's castle. The walls were massive, nearly reaching eye length despite the large incline. However, the castle was anything but elegant. Every ounce of the fortress was designed for battle, without any attention paid to aesthetic. However, every castle has an opening, and in places with this many soldiers there had to be multiple. If we couldn't find an opening, we'd make one. At least that was what my father had taught me, he wasn't known for being a bright man. "And that is why we must split our forces. One force will be led by the majority of the shepherds, and will be focused on thinning the outside troops and finding an exterior entrance into Walhart's chamber. If we can find a shortcut and defeat Walhart, than we may be able to avoid much of this battle." Chrom fingered through the scroll in front of him, having seemingly lost his place "The other will take a smaller, more elite force including the light brigade, combative staff corps, and the stealth unit, and will be led by five shepherds." Wow, that would be a ton of responsibility for the shepherds involved, thank Naga I wasn't "These shepherds will be Inigo, Severa, Sarafine, Xane, and Jordan." oh Naga dammit.

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We rushed the gates, aiming for the guards posted outside. At least if I had to be given a dangerous post like this it was doing one of the two things I'm good at: wrecking shit. I brandished my axe, Basilikos and prepared to bash my way through the enemies.

However, I stopped my actions when I heard Joran order "Fire!" from behind me. The entirety of the light brigade fire at once, engulfing the small guard troop with light magic. Within a few seconds, the entire group of enemies was ripped to shreds. Julius taught them well.

I hefted my axe over my shoulders and ramme it against the lock on the oversized wooden doors. With a single stroke, the lock broke and clattered to the ground. "Ugh… charge I guess?" I was suited to dancing and combat, not commanding others. That should be left to Lucina and Soren.

We opened the doors, finding ourselves inside a massive hallway. There were three separate massive chambers within the hall, with small squadrons of soldiers on small corridors on either side. The floors and ceiling were covered in red velvet carpet, with gold strings dangling from above. The walls were made of marble. It seemed that Walhart cared more for aesthetics than I believed.

After setting aside small groups to take care of the squadrons on the sides, we made our way to the first chamber, where Cervantes was stationed. He was the weakest among Walhart's remaining generals, so it made sense to leave the smallest group here. "You all go ahead, just leave me a small force to take the other troops with. I should be able to take this guy on myself." And with that the others went on ahead."

"You have the gall to take myself and my majestic moustache on by yourself?" The general asked me.

"Majestic? I'm half afraid that the thing will leap from your lip and start talking to me!" I said in shock before recomposing myself and brandishing my axe "I shouldn't have any trouble against a man in such bulky armor, I doubt you could even touch me." I moved my hand, placing the blade of my axe in full view "Besides, I have the advantage here."

"You doubt I could touch you, eh?" Cervantes rushed towards me with lightning speed, leaving me no room to side step. Instead, I dove backwards towards the ground as the blade of his spear grazed my cheek. As my hand touched the ground, I sprung back up to the ground and straight into a backflip, using the momentum to add force to my axe blow. He blocked the attack, the silver shaft of his lance denting slightly from the blow.

I pushed myself back before spinning around and striking once more, the attack did no more than shear off the skin on his shoulder. He immediately prepared a lance lunge.

I blocked, the force shoving me several feet back. "I'm surprised, it seems that you have a deal more talent than I expected of a man your age." i said, huffing a bit.

"The same to you. I expected a man as youthful as you to be extremely inexperienced, but you fight as if the battlefield has become your natural element, a thing I can only say about the most talented of veterans." Cervantes brandished his spear again, holding it in a more defensive stance. "I especially must commend your fighting style, as I have never seen anything like it before. You strike with heavy handed blows, and yet you manage to string them together so seamlessly. It's almost like you are dancing with your weapon as a prop."

"I suppose that's a pretty fair summation of how I was taught." I lunged once more, striking from below in an attempt to catch him off guard, but Cervantes had anticipated it. With a quick motion he pushed me off and prepared another strike. I quickly moved into a heavy handed blow as well, hoping to dodge the jab.

I felt the spear pierce my abdomen as my axe embedded itself into Cervantes' axe. We both fell to the ground,

"You truly proved to be a worthy foe. I am glad that if I had to die in battle, it was in the service of lord Walhart, by the hand of a man as strong as yourself." Cervantes said, chuckling before the blood welled up, forcing him to cough it out.

"B-but I still have a full life ahead of me. I haven't been able to spend enough time with my parents, and there are still so many women I need to meet!" Please Naga, I needed to make it through this! After all those years of war, couldn't I at least get the chance to someday see peace?

"I would have been saying the same as you at your age. It's always a shame to see the younger soldiers lose their lives." Cervantes said, his strength waning with each words. As he finished, the last of his breath left him.

I saw a woman rushing towards me with a staff in hand. However, it was already too late for me. Within seconds, everything went black.

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_Xane pov_

"Severa, Sarafine, you go on ahead!" I said as I prepared Balberith. Between myself and my brother, this fight shouldn't have been too difficult. So long as the others could keep the enemy soldiers off our backs we would have been fine.

Excellus began to shoot waves of fireballs at us, five aime for me and another three for Jordan.

I called upon the winds of darkness with Balberith, the sharp blades each dispersing a fireball of their own. One remaining blast went towards Excellus.

Jordan wrapped excalibur around his arms and punched through each of his fireballs. My blast made its way to Excellus, and the man dodged. However, he was then met by Jordan, who had just transferred the energy of Excalibur to his foot. With a single kick, Jordan sent Excellus flying into a nearby wall, forming a small dent with several cracks. The spell may have been dulled for a larger knockback, but that certainly didn't mean the spell was weak.

Excellus coughed up blood and said "Is that all?" as Jordan came with another punch. Excellus nimbly dodged before placing his hand on an exposed portion of Jordan's arm and channeled a bolganone. The flame quickly burned through the sleeve of Jordan's cloak, reaching further to sear his flesh.

Jordan placed his foot on Excellus' stomach and channeled Excalibur to push himself off as I formed a spiral of Balberith and threw it at Excellus. This time it seemed that Jordan had not dulled it as much, the spell ripped through Excellus' robes and left small gashes along his stomach although none of them reached very deeply. His arm was partially charred, with other portions turned red from either the burns of the blood pouring out.

My spell connected with Excellus with enough force to kill most men. However, his resistance was not that of most men. The spell left horrible gash marks along his body and tore through the muscles along his arms and legs but he still lived.

"I, I will not tolerate this!" Excellus sputtered loudly "I will not let myself be defeated by a bunch of street rats like the two of you! No, this was supposed to be where my life began anew! This was supposed to be the day I became a king! If I die here, I'm taking you with me!" Excellus began to swell up.

Realizing what was about to happened, I created a massive shield of wind with my Balberith tome. Jordan, however, rushed straight for Excellus with the intention of finishing him off. "No! Protect yourself!" I yelled, hoping to stop him.

As Jordan turned back to look at me in confusion, Excellus' spell finished develop and enacted on itself. Excellus' body burst into a massive blast of Bolganone, the spell likely containing the contents of the entire tome. The flames consumed Jordan before spreading across the entire room.

When the spell subsided, everything had changed. It looked like the aftermath of a village being pillaged. The carpets were burned to nothing and the ground and walls were covered with cracks. Small pieces of rubble were littered everywhere, making me wonder how the place was even still standing. Every man in the room, both Ylissean and Valmese, was left with nothing more than a corpse.

I lifted a wooden beam that had fallen on someone, finding it to be my now deceased brother. His face was left nearly unrecognisable, with the only distinctive features being his hair and eye color along with his Excalibur tome, which had been left completely unharmed by the flames.

I picked up the tome and began to weep, digging my fingers into my palm as the tears left my eyes. Blood began to drizzle down my wrist and forearm, but I didn't care. I just wanted something to dull the pain.

_"Xane, can you make me a promise?" _The words of the past began to fill my mind. _"If one of us dies, then the other makes sure that he doesn't fall in battle. That way, no matter what happens one of us would get to see the fall of Grima."_ The promise may have been naive, but I intended to follow through with it.

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_Severa pov_

"As long as we work together, we should be able to take on Walhart." Sarafine said from behind me as she finished off a Valmese soldier.

"Yeah right, you're just going to take the glory for it all. And then everyone will be praising little miss perfect all over again." I said in a vitriolic tone "I'm not letting that shit happen today. This time, I'm getting the glory I deserve!" And with that, I ran straight towards Walhart, blade in hand. I leapt in with a slash aimed at his side. Walhart casually deflected the blow with his axe.

"I had expected the exalt to be the one to face me, not a little girl." Walhart scoffed before taking a glance at Tyrfing. "Although if you are under the blessing of Tyr's contract, then you must be more powerful than you look." Tyr? Oh, the patron dragon of Baldur. "I hope that at the very least you are better than that fool of a khan, Basillo. If not, then my enjoyment here shall be but a fleeting moment" Walhart brandished his gleaming axe. The weapon was fearfully referred to as the Wolf Berg, and the axe certainly bore resemblance to the blood filled jaws of a predator.

Walhart swung his axe towards me, and I quickly dodged before replying with a strike towards my own. With no effort whatsoever, he brought his axe head up again and blocked the blow.

We both broke off, but I was faster. I brought my blade down towards his horse's leg, hoping to bring Walhart down with it. Walhart narrowly blocked the attack, throwing him off balance.

Or so I had thought. When I came in to land the finishing blow I found that Walhart had already prepared another attack, forcing me to leap back.

As I leapt back I pulled a tomahawk out from a sheath on by back and threw it before lunging again. As I lunged I saw Walhart deflect the tomahawk and quickly prepare another attack. In the corner of my eye I saw Sarafine coming towards me.

I felt a strong force throw me to the ground as Sarafine stood in front of me, taking the blow from Walhart's axe. The weapon embedded itself into Sarafine's breastplate, blood seeping out of the wound.

With a shaky hand, Sarafine grasped Walhart's arm, pulling it closer to herself as she brought the Gae Bolg up and stabbed him. "Stay away… from my sister." She said, her voice growing quieter already. No no no. Please, no. Not after the last words I said to her. I may have been jealous of her, but I still loved her. I didn't want her to die thinking that I hated her. Please please please.

Walhart shakily began to lift himself back up, and I immediately rushed towards him, stabbing him through the chest. I then kicked the man off of my blade and turned towards Sarafine. "Sarafine, I want you to know that-"

"Don't worry about it." Sarafine said faintly. "I understand. You didn't mean to be so hateful, you were just letting out some stress. I was old enough to train sooner than you, so Dad ended up paying more attention to me when we were growing up. And then when we came back, my style was better for him to train against so he spent more of his time with me. He himself said a few days ago that he felt like he had neglected you." Sarafine coughed, specks of blood coming out "You know, it's kind of funny that you were jealous of me and my fighting skills. Because… I've always been jealous of you and… how normal… you were. I guess…. we're ...both ...idiots… huh?" Sarafine said, her voice growing fainter and fainter with each word.

"Yes, yes we are." I said, tears forming in my eyes as I wrapped Sarafine in a hug. Her breathing slowed, soon reaching a stop. Her heartbeat ceased. Finally, her skin changed from its warm temperature to an ice cold one. I began to cry harder and harder with each passing minute until I was completely lost in my sobs. I didn't even notice when the other shepherds came in, nor did I notice Geralt picking me up.

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_? pov_

I awoke in a field, surrounded by risen. I brandished my axe and prepared for them to come at me, only to be completely ignored. I then noticed that everything felt notably colder than normal, and upon checking my pulse I found that I had none. Was I dead? What had happened?

I took off my breastplate and lowered my shirt to see a rather large scar. Oh yes, that's right. One of the shepherds. It seemed that not even death could conquer me.

"How does it feel to be a risen, Walhart?" Grima said "I' imagine a little cold, but other than that everything should be fine. Eyes, ears, nose, genitals. All left perfectly in tact. You even get a bit more muscle since you proved worthy of being a deadlord." Gri0a said with a strange smile.

"You did this, I' assume."

"Well, yes and no. You made yourself a risen, but if risen had never been invented then your body would have nothing to model itself after. So everything went according to plan when it comes to you."

"According to plan?"

"Simple. How did you find out about me?"

"I followed a cloaked figure into these ruins when I was still a cadet…"

"A cloaked grimleal into some grimleal ruins, or more accurately Medeus. He began his planning long before I did, created the church with his last decade, in fact. I simply used his foundation to make some plans. I saw an opportunity with you, so I sent the least useful of my children- who's now the king of Plegia, by the way- to sow the seeds of war. With you taking things over, peace wasn't an option, and you were thrown into war with Ylisse. As a result, many men died and joined my army. Too bad Chrom didn't die, that would have saved a bit of time, but nothing big."

"You've been orchestrating this? I was not meant to defeat you?"

"No, but now you can achieve an even greater purpose: join me and you can erase the hold of dragons over this planet. All I ask is for the means to repopulate my race so I can take them and live isolated from humanity, as dragons were meant to be."

"Erase the hold of dragons?"

"Yes, my goal is not to estro humanity, but to simply take hold of them long enough to kill the divine dragons. Once I have done that, I shall take my family and leave this place permanently."

"That does seem like an interesting proposition? I assume that if I say no then you'll just take control of me anyway?"

"Assuming I can, yes. Even if you can resist, you won't be a threat to me anyway as you are. The other risen will not follow you and as such you will have no army. Join me and live as a king. Deny me and you shall have nothing."

"Then I shall join you."

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**And Grima give Walhart an offer he can't refuse. Grima never really explained with Valm but basically he had Validar lure Walhart to a set of ruins to let Walhart know about the Fell Dragon's rise and orchestrate the Valmese war as a means of gaining extra resources.**

**And with that, every battle in Valm is finished. A few more development chapters and then on to the Grimleal arc.**

**Also, anyone who watches SNL or is familiar with a certain meme on Tumblr will understand the meaning of the chapter title**


	34. Mourning Celebrations

**Author's notes: Finally managed to get this done, two weeks later than would have been preferable. **

**reviews:**

**Cormag: Hmm,time will tell with Grima, but keep in mind that he's much more grey in morality than in the games. The first gen will hopefully at least be mentioned soon, but I'm mostly leaving them out in favor of the second gen, since I've always felt that they deserve to be the main characters after they appear. Blaze is still somewhat active since he holds a role in Roseanne and as such has more relevance and Kira's kinda just there for gags and when I need a neutral viewpoint but still refuse to write in third person.**

**Pyro: Yep, Walhart's back, and with a stat boost. **

**Ace: 5, I believe. It's always Black Friday so long as Walmart still lives.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem.**

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_Xane pov_

My vision blurred as I looked at the boulder that I was using as my target. It was only one of the many that I had used over the course of the night and early morning, the only one in the clearing that was still in decent enough shape to actually use properly. I had no idea what time it was, but I did know that I probably should have headed back to camp several hours before. I was far beyond the point of actually caring though.

My legs wavered as I took my stance, exhausted and worn from going for gods know how many hours without any rest or sustenance. That mattered little though, for the strain on my body relieved my soul and made me feel just a little closer to my brother.

Purple rings circled my hand as I compressed balberith into a single ring. I shifted my weight throughout my hips, prepared to fling the ring and-

Fell flat on my face as my entire body locked spell flew what had to be fifteen feet over the mark and kept rising, vanishing soon after it broke through the treeline.

I tried to get back up, but found that I had barely enough strength to shift position, let alone stand back up. It looked like I wouldn't be moving for a while, and I was at least seven miles from the camp so chances of being found were rather slim.

At least, that's what I had thought until I saw a girl in a pink dress rush into the clearing, Nah. How had she managed to find me so quickly?

"Finally." Nah let out a relieved sigh and ran towards me. She sat down beside me once she got close enough "As soon as we saw that your tent was empty, we began searching the area. If I wasn't close enough to see your spell flying through the air I probably never would have found you." On a closer inspection, I was able to see the twigs caught in her hair, the small cuts from thorns and branches that lined her body, the tears in her dress, and the dark lines under her eyes. In my need to relieve my own pain, I had harmed those close to me.

"Gods, you look like you just got out of a battle or something." I said teasingly.

"May as well have, with all the stress we've been through." Nah's eyes took on a sad look that swiftly changed to anger. " Godsdammit Xane, we just laid your brother to rest yesterday and then suddenly you're gone too! Your parents have been worried sick!" She clenched her fist so tightly that blood began to drip down her palm. She looked as if she would either punch me or have a breakdown at any given moment.

"I'm sorry, I-" before I could finish my words, Nah wrapped me in a tight embrace.

"Please don't scare me like that again." Nah said, her voice shaking as tears began to fall onto my shoulder."I know that you want to grow stronger for Jordan's sake, I know that you two made a promise, but none of that will mean a damned thing if you work yourself to death! What if I hadn't come and a wolf had stumbled onto you? You wouldn't be able to do a thing in this state!"

"I understand, Nah, but this is for more than just the promise. After what happened to Jordan, I began to think. What happened if something happened to mom or dad? What if something happened to you? If I lost any more of you… I don't think I could handle it. That's why I need to be stronger, so that I can protect you."

"You idiot." Nah said as she let go before gripping my shoulders and pulling me to look at her face to face. "Don't protect us." Nah said, venom filling her voice "Fight with us. We aren't some kids that need babysitting, we're your friends. You aren't alone, so don't act like you are. Yes, we need to be stronger, but us doing so alone will make no difference. Fight by my-" Nah stuttered for a second "our sides, and that will give us the strength we need." Nah produced a small bottle of ether "Here, we need to head back as soon as we can."

"Thanks" I reached my hand out to grab it, but Nah pulled it just out of my grasp.

"One one condition: You promise not to do anything stupid from now on and to ask Khrow if you can fight next to me at every battle so I can help prevent you from doing anything reckless."

"It's going to take more than a bottle to bribe me." I said in a serious tone.

"Please?" Nah gave me the saddest puppy dog eyes she could, and I swiftly succumbed.

"Okay, I promise" I said with an overly exaggerated sigh. Nah handed me the bottle and I swiftly downed it.

Within a few moments, I was able to stand and walk. "Okay, let's go." I took a few steps and stumbled. Nah came closer so I could lean on her shoulder for support.

"Good, your mother was worried that she had lost both of her kids." Nah said before mumbling "And I thought I had lost my two best friends."

"Sorry" I said as I rubbed the back of my head "I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize how worried you guys would be."

"Don't worry about it, I honestly should have expected it after knowing you for so long." Nah paused for a second in thought before leaning over and kissing me on the cheek.

"What was that for?" I asked, heat rushing to my face.

"Oh, nothing." Nah said, looking down. "It's just… I'm glad that you're okay."

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_Geralt pov_

"Hey Geralt, could you please spar with me? I want to try to learn a new weapon." I heard the familiar voice of Severa ring through the otherwise empty field. I had found a nice and secluded spot that was still within half a mile of the camp to practice in. I had hoped for some training in peace, but I didn't mind having this one around. While her training regimens were worse than anything even Grima could imagine, she was certainly a fun sparring partner.

"I don't see any need for you to practice with another weapon considering how good you are with Tyrfing, but I suppose that's fine." I said as I turned to look at Severa. In her hands was the very same spear that her older sister had wielded up until a few days prior, Gae Bolg. She held the weapon in a sloppy stance displaying her lack of experience with a spear, but her eyes held a sad yet determined look to them. Her face was still damp from recently shed tears.

Severa lunged towards me in a haphazard manner . She couldn't even hold the weapon properly, let alone attack with it. As I dodged the attack, I rammed the flat of Mystletainn against Gae Bolg. Her grip on the weapon was poorly placed, and as such it took little effort to rip the spear from her hands.

"I know you miss her, but attempting to emulate her isn't a good way of coping." I said as Severa lifted the spear back up.

"Shut the hell up!" Severa yelled as she whipped around to face me. Despite her seeming anger, her eyes showed nothing more than sadness. "This is all my sister left me, and I intend to make use of it." It seemed that she would not be willing to listen to reason. I would have to beat some

sense into her.

Severa lunged once more, with the same pitiful style from before. This time I didn't even bother to use my blade to guard, instead opting to sheath it before grabbing the shaft of her spear. I tugged on the weapon, pulling her towards me as I prepared a weakened rexflame. I let go as I launched the spell into her side, sending her tumbling to the ground. Had this been a real battle, we would have had yet another funeral on our hands.

Severa got up and held Gae Bolg in her hands once more, but I wouldn't stand for that. "I refuse to spar with you again unless you use Tyrfing."

"But-"

"That isn't all that your sister left you, and I intend to prove it." I said as I brandished Mystletainn. Severa drew her own blade from her scabbard and faced me. "Now, give me all you've got!"

Severa swiftly lunged towards me, and I barely managed to lift my own blade quickly enough to block the blow. We locked blades for a few seconds, but I was stronger by no small margin. I pushed back with all my might, throwing off her balance as I prepared to slash again.

But Severa wouldn't be defeated that easily. Despite being pushed back, she was still able to recover and strike again before I could prepare an attack of my own. I was forced to dodge, narrowly managing to avoid her blade.

I launched a rexflame as she aimed a slash towards my chest. Her blade met the spell, and her blade was knocked back as the flames exploded.

I took this opportunity to launch an attack of my own, aimed at Severa's legs. The girl easily jumped over the blade before lunging at me full force.

We locked blades once more, but this time I took a different approach. I kicked Severa's legs out from under her and moved my blade towards her throat.

But I was too slow. As I began to move my blade, Severa quickly tugged my own feet from under me and rolled over on top of me., placing her blade over my throat. Within a few seconds, I had gone from having Severa in a compromising position to her having me in a compromising position. In more ways than one, considering she was laying right on top of me.

"I still don't see what you meant though. What else did she leave me?"

"What didn't she leave you?" I said as I placed a hand over her own. She suddenly began to blush a bright red, as if this action were even close to as flustering as the position we were both in. Her hands were quite soft considering they were used to holding a sword "These hands, molded into those of a warrior through the training that your sister gave you." I pointed at her forehead "Your head, filled with the lessons she gave you and the memories she gave you. Your sister may be gone, but she still lives through you. So don't try to emulate her, because that would be like stomping on the gifts she has given you."

"I've… never thought of it that way." Severa said thoughtfully.

"Don't worry, it's something that most people neglect." I had done so myself when my father passed. I wouldn't make that mistake again. "Anyway, could you please get off me?" I certainly didn't mind this position, but I would rather her not know just how little I minded.

"Oh! Right." Severa said, as if she hadn't even noticed our position. Had this happened any other time, she would have slapped me for no reason by this point. "Sorry." Severa said, blushing as she leapt to her feet and began to brush the dirt and grass from her skirt.

"No problem." I said as I lifted myself from the ground.

"Oh, and by the way…" As I turned towards Severa, she grabbed my cheek and pulled me into a kiss. "Thank you." she said after she pulled away, looking down in an attempt to hide her still visible blush.

"A-anyway..." I stuttered as I searched for another subject "We really need to get back to the camp soon! The parade's in a little while, so we should probably get into costume."

"Parade?" Had she seriously forgotten?

"The different armies all agreed that i would help distract everyone from the losses if we had a parade involving our heritages, Jugdral, with some of Elibe's history for the Chon'sineans. You're supposed to dress as Seliph."

"Do I really have to dress as a man?"

"No complaining, if you think yours is bad you should see what Julius is in."

"How bad is it?"

"His pain will make the whole ordeal worthwhile." I said with a chuckle "And I'm sure that those we've lost will be watching from the heavens just so they can laugh at him." I was certain that even Sarafine would have laughed at Julius' response to his role in the parade.

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_Christian pov_

I sighed as I pulled the sash of my robes, fastening them tightly as I looked into the mirror. The robes were mostly white, with streaks of red lining the sleeves and the ribbons were laced through my hair,contrasting with the black color. The clothing was quite typical of a member of the Chon'sin clergy, with the only thing marking me as high priestess being the purification staff in my right hand. I had recently been given the role of leading the victory celebrations, and I was to serve as a symbol of hope to all members of the former resistance alongside the other shepherds.

But I didn't fit the bill. With the scars along my face and hands, I looked nothing like what would be expected of a priestess. Not to mention that with my small build the robes seemed as if they had swallowed me whole. I didn't look as if I could possibly be a leader of any sort, even in a healing corps.

I sighed as I turned around to walk down the hall and into the main chambers of the church building. Brady was waiting outside to see how I looked, and I didn't want to keep him waiting.

"Those robes fit you perfectly." Bray said as I entered the main chamber. He wore a brown tunic with a blue undershirt and bandages covering his forearms. He had a billowing white cape and matching white pants with brown boots that reached to his knees. The cape was slanted slightly, giving off a look somewhere between that of a noble and of a delinquent. These were the clothes of Ced, one of Bray's few known ancestors and one of the two most famous members of the Forseti bloodline.

"No, they don't fit at all." I said as I looked down.

"On what standards?"

"Well, for one: my scars don't exactly look befitting of a high priestess."

Brady pointed to the scar lining his eye "We all have scars. That's one of the things all soldiers share. If anything, you will inspire the troops more because you have these scars, as they will be able to see that you have fought just as they have."

"But I'm too small, someone of my stature is hardly inspiring."

"And? Your own teacher looked much younger than you do when she became known as the voice of Naga. In fact, many initially believed that the hero king had brought a child into his ranks when she first fought alongside him."

"B-but" at this point I was just looking for another reason to protest. No matter what, I wouldn't feel as if I had lived up to expectations. Not when I was chosen on a basis similar to what made Lady Tiki so well known, I was nothing compare to her."

"She would have wanted you to stand proudly, you know." Brady said, a knowing tone in his voice "Naga, I'd wager that she'd step down just to give you the experience. She adored you, you know."

"How did you-"

"Please." Brady scoffed before he continued "I've known you since we were both just a couple of little acolytes. Of course I knew that you would be worried because of this. In fact…" Brady snapped his fingers, and a man in white robes walked towards this, carrying something on a velvet pillow.

As the man came closer, I saw that it was a beautiful head ornament, just like the one that Lady Tiki used to wear. "How did you get this?"

"Julius told me beforehand that you were going to be named as a high priestess, and I figured that you would be roped into something like this. So I gave the nearest jeweler an order for this, and came by as often as possible to make sure that it was as close to the real deal as possible."

I tried it on, and Brady pulled out a hand mirror to show me how it looked. While I still felt that I couldn't measure up to my teacher, this lightened my spirits just a little bit. I knew that this wasn't her actual head dress, but it resembled it closely enough that I could barely tell the difference. It was almost as if I had a little part of Tiki was right here.

"So, what do you think?" Brady said as he pulled the mirror away. My vision began to grow blurry as tears filled my eyes. "Oh gods I'm sorry! I didn't think that-"

I pulled Brady into a hug "Thank you. Thank you so much, Brady. I love it."

I held him there like that for a moment before breaking off. "You know, we should probably head off now. I'm sure that your parents would like to see how you look. Your father will probably be very proud of you, seeing as he's a priest himself."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Let's go." I said, grabbing his hand as I began to walk.

"Why are you-"

"I kinda forgot how to get out from here, so I need you to guide me." A blatant lie, but Brady let it slide, simply gripping my hand in return.

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_Soren pov_

Well, this costume was just wonderful, wasn't it? I had on a black turban that covered my right eye, so I could hardly see where I was going. I had on a wig and a fake beard, which were both green and itchier than taguel fur. The only consolation was that the robes had cool gold lining and a nice red piece at the top.

Why did I have to be dressed as Nergal, of all people?

"I hate these clothes." I complained.

"At least you only have to wear a wig, they decided that since my hair was already somewhat close in color, it would be more cost efficient to simply dye mine." Lucina's hair had been changed to a teal shade, and was tied back into a ponytail. She wore a beautiful blue Chon'sin dress with long slits on the side, showing off her legs. At her side was the blade that had formerly been wielded by her cousin, the Sol Katti.

"On the bright side, you'll be playing as a famous hero, unlike myself." I said as I began to lean close to her ear and whisper "That means that unlike our sessions, you'll be the one pointing a sword at me for once."

"Hmm, I suppose that will be fun. Especially since it'll be in public."

"What was that? I heard the words 'sword' and 'public' and now I'm not sure whether to be concerned or excited." William said in a joking manner as he strode in. He wore a long red wig in contrast to his normal blue, with a matching jewel on his forehead. In place of his usual clothes were a long billowing set of robes with a golden trim and massive shoulder pads, complete with a fiendish looking black cape with a red velvet lining on the inside and the bottom. This combined with the brand emblazoned on his hand made him look almost like his ancestor, Julius of Grannvale. "The two of you better not be up to something naughty."

"I still don't understand what my dear cousin sees in you." Lucina scoffed. She, like the vast majority of the shepherds, still held him in distrust.

"I see that they dressed you up as a villain as well, it seems that being of earth dragon lineage immediately lands you in those roles." I said bitterly. While I doubted that this was purposeful, it was still rather annoying. I was lucky enough to be able to evade most racism, as most didn't know my true lineage, but I had seen more than enough of it through the average treatment of William.

"And the same could be said of you dating the son of Grima himself." William said to Lucina before turning to me "That may very well be so,but I would have volunteered for this role either way. Julius himself wasn't bad, it was only Loptyr's influence that corrupted. Even then, many believed that a portion of his humanity remained intact because he was known to occasionally display love towards Ishtar. The very same could be said of your father and Grima, could it not?"

"I suppose that is true." Mark himself said that my aunt and father occasionally revealed themselves. "I wonder if all of us were given these kinds of roles or we were the only two."

"Just you two." Morgan said cheerfully as she ran up to me. She owe a long purple wig that had small braids keeping the wig from her eyes. She also wore a light blue dress that reached down to the ground, with small golden chains around her waist. On top of all of that was a set of dark purple mage robes with white lining. While the garb made her look like Sophia, her cheerful demeanor shattered the facade.

Following behind her were Mark and Syrenne.

Mark wore a short red wig that reached just below his own hair. He had on a shirt that was a mixture of blue and black colors with a golden trim, ending in a popped collar. Hanging below the shirt was a blue tattered cape with a red inside. Around his forehead was a tattered headband that seemed to be a blue version of the one Gaius wore. Over all of this was armor, with two straps forming an X shape across his chest, white hand guards, two shields over his left shoulder; one white, one black, and large white greaves. To complete his image, it seemed that Syrenne had allowed him to carry the Sword of Seals.

Syrenne had her hair tied into a ponytail and wore no wig. She wore a white shirt with an olive green center and glove that reached to her biceps. She also wore a white skirt that reached to just above her knees, fastened by a brown belt that also held a coinpurse aloft. She wore small brown boots with olive legwarmers that started at her calf and ended at the top of the boots. Around her neck, she wore a long blue scarf that was large enough for her to hide her face in.

"Master thief Cath, at your service!" I would have said that Syrenne was getting too engulfed in her role, but this was somewhat normal for her.

"I am very honored to have been granted a role of such a great noble, although I wish it was one of a more war-like nature." As Mark probably knew, Roy wasn't exactly known for his prowess in battle. In fact, he had been considered among the weakest members of his own army prior to the retrieval of the Sword of Seals.

"I'm shocked that you were willing to give your most powerful weapon to another." I said to Syrenne "A lot of bad things could result from such an action."

Syrenne simply shrugged "It's not like he could use it anyway." We couldn't be sure of that, seeing as the only thing barring a person's usage of an Elibian legendary weapon was the sentience of the blade. "Besides, I feel like it's okay because it's Mark."

"Whatever you say." I sighed.

"Oh hey, it looks like the main attraction has arrived." William said, and I immediately followed his gaze.

William had been referring to Julius, who had on a silver wig that reached halfway down his back. He wore a white rendition of a cleric's robe, which opened up around the legs as if it were a dress. The sleeves were absolutely massive and had a gold trim. Overtop of his robe was large gray cape with white trim that reached low enough that it was difficult to see his purple shoes.

I immediately bursted into a massive laughing fit.

"Shut up, Soren!"

"Whatever you say, Julia!" I said as my laughter reached the point where tears began to form.

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_Kira pov_

I sat in the highest location I could manage as the parade began, hoping to get the best possible view of the action.

Christian stood in front of the crowd as fanfare was played from multiple directions, announcing the start of the festivities.

The parade began by detailing the tales of Jugdral through a series of floats. They began by telling the story of Sigurd, detailing important events such as Sigurd's first encounters with Deidre and his later marriage and his duel with his closest friend, Eldigan.

At the same time, the life of Arvis was shown behind the scenes. His first meeting with Sigurd, in which he gave Sigurd aid one the man's trust. The capture of Deidre, which led to the two being manipulated by Manfroy,falling in love due to his hex.

As the two lives converged, a massive float was carried depicting the battle of Belhalla. Brutus, dressed as Sigurd, watched as his wife appeared behind Laurent, dressed as Arvis. Flames shot up from the boarding of the float, and a choir began to sing "The Pyre of Sigurd".

Next, Seliph's meeting with his half sister Julia was depicted, followed by several battles and the recruitment of several of the children of his father's former army.

On other floats, the life of Julius was depicted, beginning with his possession by Loptyr. The floats would continue on to show his acts of oppression, such as the child hunts.

Eventually, the stories converged to show the battle between Seliph and Julius. At first, Julia is held under the control of Manfroy, but Arvis, repentant of his former transgressions, provides the aid needed to break this curse, as well as the Book of Naga. With the power of the book as well as Tyrfing, Julius is easily defeated, and Loptyr is banished from the earth.

Next began the tales of Elibe. This portion of the parade began by showing Lyn's first meeting with the great tactician, Mark. The floats continued to depict Lyn's first contact with the Mani Katti as well as her discovery that she was the princess of Caelin. From then on began the tale of a young girl who thought tooth and nail to meet her only remaining relative, fighting even her own uncle to reach this goal.

After Lyn's victory over her uncle Lundgren, the story faded into Eliwood's tale.

At first, Eliwood's tale seemed as if it had nothing to do with Lyn. Instead, the story focused around a boy on a search for his father, fighting several bands of mercenaries alongside his best friend, Hector, in order to progress along the path. However, Lyn would eventually meet with the pair, and the duo would become a trio.

However, nothing is ever simple in war, and the three found that they were caught in a mess that involved a madman's desire to get revenge on a world that took his wife away from him and to reunite with his family. The man, named Nergal,did everything in his power to prevent the trio from stopping his plan, and eventually Lyn herself fought Nergal off in order to protect her newfound friends.

In a last ditch effort to bring his plans to fruition, he opened up a gate to the realm of the dragons, bringing out three dragons to fight off the army.

However, his plans would be thwarted by his own daughter, a manakete named Ninnian.

Upon defeating Nergal, Eliwood retired to his castle alongside Ninnian, Lyn went back to the plains of Sacae alongside a man named Rath, and Hector returned to his castle in Ostia alongside his wife Florina.

Twenty years later, the newfound peace in Elibe would be shattered as the nation of Bern began to use dragons for the sake of warfare.

In order to face this threat,Roy, the son of Eliwood and Ninnian, led the Lycian League into battle once more. In order to stop this new threat, the league enlisted every ounce of help that it could get, including the children of the members of Eliwood's army and even some former members such as the Sword Saint, Karel.

In their journey, the league gathers each of the seven legendary weapons in order to face the threat of Bern. Soon after, Roy draws the Sword of Seals, greatly enhancing his own power.

With the newfound strength granted by the blade, Roy duels the king of Bern to the death, and upon winning quested to seal away the source of Bern's power, the Demon Dragon Idenn.

With the dragon sealed, peace was able to return to Elibe once more.

After a few last floats displaying the aftereffects of the war, the parade ended and the rest of the festivities began. For some, it was a day of prayer. For others, a day of celebration. But for myself and the other shepherds, this day was a day of well deserved rest.

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**While the parade scene was basically just a summary of other FEs, I am very proud of the rest of this chapter.**

** I would like to draw attention to the fact that about two weeks ago the anniversary for this fic passed. In some ways, it feels like it shouldn't be nearly that long yet and in others it feels like it should have passed long ago, but either way I have some things to say.**

** First off: Thank you, all of you. I'm being serious. I know that for those of you that have stayed here since the beginning, reading this the entire way to this point hasn't been a big deal, but for me the mere fact that there are people willing to read over one hundred thousand words of my writing is absolutely amazing. You all could have dropped off at any point you wanted, but you still decided to stay with it, even during those periods where I go for as long as a month without updating. **

** Thank you once more for giving me your words of encouragement, for commenting on what I've written, and for giving me a drive to write. There was a period very early on in the story, way back when we hadn't even introduced 90% of the characters you see now, when I thought that I would give up on writing because a recent occurrence had left me as a broken down mess, but I thought of the people who I knew were waiting for the next chapter and I decided to keep going. And I found that I had a new form of stress relief that I really enjoyed, and I recovered much faster as a result.**

** Thank you for everything, and I'll see you next chapter.**


	35. Are you a man or a rabbit?

**Author's notes:Welp, school's out, so I can hopefully open more often now. I honestly should have been able to get this one out sooner, sorry.**

**Answers:**

**Cormag: That one was fun to write. I'm guessing Shanan. Rath is the closest to canon because of Sue, although Hector is hinted as well at some points so eh. Ideen is the wiki translation, so I went with it, I'll fix Ninian eventually. I'm still not all that good in my opinion, but I'm much better.**

**Ace:Yep, time for rainbows and butterflies. Yeah, it was basically filler… kinda pointless.**

**Pyro: One ore arc woo!**

**Disclaimer: Fire Emblem belongs to Intelligent Systems.**

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_Joel pov_

"You really want me to take her on without using my beaststone?" Yarne questioned incredulously. Judging from the vibrations in the air, it seemed that he was pointing frantically at Kjelle, who I had brought in to help me break Yarne of his cowardice. The three of us were standing in a small knoll in the woods near the camp, where we could practice in peace and leave our stones on the ground without the risk of theft. "I'd have issues fighting her with my stone, let alone without it!"

"And that line of thinking is exactly why he brought me, I'd assume." Kjelle said in a rather bored tone, probably assuming that Yarne would wimp out and put up a weak fight. I honestly didn't blame her.

I nodded "That's right. We need you to break this 'sole survivor' schtick. I know you grew up hearing it, but you aren't the last taguel, as you found out the day you met me. In fact, once we take our parents and the little versions of us, there are six." Eight, actually, but I neglected to mention him. It hurts to dredge up the past.

"That's still not many. Nowhere near enough to say it's fine to throw our lives on the line."

"Pegasus dung, as if our lives are going to be on the lines with this many of us. Those risen may be powerful, but it's monsters like us that have been the foundation of nightmares for eons. Our species' population has never been larger than a small village, and yet it took massive armies to defeat us. You shouldn't fear them, they should be the ones running in terror of you."

"And what exactly does this have to do with me not being allowed to use my beaststone?"

"To show you of just how powerful our race is: if you are formidable without the boost the stone gives you, just imagine what you are capable of with it. I believe that part of your fear comes from underestimating yourself."

"Are you done rambling?" Kjelle said as she rubbed her lance rather loudly. I couldn't see her face, but I could tell that she was losing her patience.

"Sure. Show her what you've got, Yarne. Remember that you're a hare, not a rat."

Yarne hunched down into a ball-like position before springing towards Kjelle. As Yarne had no training with weapons, I decided that he would be better going off of his instincts. Using a blade was something a taguel had to be taught, but the body was a weapon that even most newborns were able to use.

The next sound I heard was Yarne's fist slamming against Kjelle's shield, and a gust of air as the shield clattered to the ground. She was probably caught off guard by his speed and strength, beyond that of the average human even without the aid of a stone. Taguels were born with most of their physical and sensory capabilities enhanced, at the cost of having thinner bones that were less durable.

Yarne then proceeded to flip up into the air and aim a kick that Kjell barely managed to block with her lance, the dirt crackling as she was pushed back a few feet.

Kjelle finally managed to prepare an attack as Yarne landed on the ground. The boy immediately flinched back, afraid of even a training weapon without the extra mass of his rabbit form protecting him. It was a shame, but it was a step forward, at least.

"Okay, it's my turn. You can take a break for now, then you'll go up against her again." I said as I sat my beaststone down and pulled out the Vague Katti.

"Oh, you're going to train with me as well?" Kjelle asked.

"Of course. I need to be teaching by example, don't I?"

"Very well then."

I held myi with the hilt leveled with my chin. The stance was vastly different from my old two bladed style, but it was necessary for me to adjust to it if I wished to use the Vague Katti properly.

I quickly lunged forward, spinning as I launched a hefty strike aimed at her shoulder. She deflected the attack with the shaft of her lance.

As soon as I felt my blade rebound off of her lance, I spun around and struck from the opposite direction. I heard a loud, hollow clank as my blade hit Kjelle's armor. Wait, that didn't seem right. She should have been able to block that, it wasn't a difficult task for one of her skill.

I proceeded to launch a barrage of attacks at her, most hitting while she deflected a small number of the strikes. This didn't seem right.

I placed my blade against her throat "I guess that's the match." I said as I tried to hide my disappointment. She had been holding back on me the whole time, but i would be best if Yarne didn't know that.

"Your turn again, Yarne. We'll do another five cycles of this." Yarne let out a loud groan as I said this, dreading the rest of the training session.

We kept training in the same manner, with Kjelle holding back during my matches with her while Yarne gradually gained more and more confidence in his abilities.

"Now that's how a taguel fights!" I said as Yarne leapt over Kjelles head and attacked from behind. He then proceeded to leap onto her back before kicking off with all of his might.

Kjelle fell stomach first, the force combined with her armor's weight bringing her crashing to the ground. That was going to hurt in the morning, and probably the rest of the week as well.

"I think that's enough for today, Yarne. Let's meet again for something like this in a few days, I'll try to get a set day and time for you tomorrow." I said, and Yarne immediately walked off the premise.

"You held back on me,didn't you?" I said once Yarne was out of earshot "You know, the main reason I chose you for this training was that I hoped you wouldn't do that. I can normally trust William or Soren to go all out with me, but they're both already occupied." I continued as I let out a loud sigh.

"Sorry,it's just… you know, hard not to take it easy on someone who's-"

"Blind? Yeah, I get that, but I also have more than good enough hearing to make up for it."

"With your beaststone maybe, but without it? I doubt you could-"

"Watch out, there's a spider coming down from right under you. It would probably suck if that thing got stuck in your armor or something." I had heard the thing several moments ago and deemed it to be insignificant, but it was good for proving a point.

"Oh now you're just- ack!" Kjelle said as she looked up and saw the creature. She immediately leapt back, an action that was remarkable given the weight of her armor. "Point taken"

I immediately broke into a fit of laughter "So much for our resident tough girl!"

"Oh come on, everyone's afraid of those things!"

"Beorcs, maybe. Out of the four taguel I've ever met, Yarne is the only one I've known to be afraid of a creature smaller than himself."

"Wait, you've met four laguz? Aside from you, I thought that Yarne, Panne, and your father were the only Taguel alive."

"Well, that is technically correct. Including myself, there are four taguel, but there used to be a fifth. I had an older brother named Troy, but he is no longer with us."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Anyway, is it okay if I help you and Yarne with your training again next time? I'll make sure to go all out against you this time." Kjelle said, not wanting to pry.

"Sure, that sounds fine with me.I'll tell Yarne. When are you free?"

"Any day's fine, I train every day anyway. Just don't set a time that gets between me and my food, my father and I always make sure to get thirds."

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_Soleil pov_

"And you want to wrestle with Minerva for what reason?" Gerome asked me with a skeptical gaze.

"There's an old tale about how the great Hector of Ostia once fought off a pack of wyverns when he forgot his weapon. Since it was two of his descendants who founded Ferox, it has been a coming of age tradition for the children of khans to have to wrestle a wyvern ever since." I said excitedly, I had been waiting to do this for years, since I had never gotten the chance in the future.

"So your coming of age ceremony is based around bare handed combat with a wyvern? I would say that you were just making things up if it didn't explain why Minerva starts looking uneasy any time your mother is within twenty meters of her." Gerome said as he petted his wyvern "And what is this about Ferox being founded by Hector's descendants?"

"Oh, right, I suppose most people don't know much about us aside from our love for fighting. The nation was founded around one thousand five hundred years ago by the great grandchildren of Hector . Two of them came to the feroxi shore, with a wielder of Durandal, my own blade, becoming the first East Khan while the wielder of Armads became the first West Khan. The two weapons have been passed down the lines ever since, but a wielder is only chosen once every century or so."

"That's quite interesting, actually. Anyway, go ahead." Grome said as he nudged Minerva forward.

"I'm honestly surprised that you said yes."

"Well, Minerva could use the exercise, so we both get something out of this. Besides, just because I said you could wrestle her doesn't mean I think you'll actually win." Gerome said with a cocky tone.

"Is that a challenge?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep. Go get her, Minerva." Gerome said, and the beast immediately leapt towards me.

I rolled out of the way and grabbed at Minerva's hind leg, however, her strength proved to be too much for me as she kicked free and scored a few small cuts on my arm.

Minerva attempted to leap over my head in order to get a better position, and I responded by grabbing the beast in midair and throwing her to the ground. I attempted to pin her down and Gerome began counting, a signal which most trained wyverns were familiar with. However, before I made it to three, Minerva threw me off, sending my flying onto my back.

Minerva rushed towards me, getting ready to pin me. However, I slid forward and grabbed her tail. I rolled with her tail in my hands, using all my strength to flip the beast over. With her tail in my hands, pinning her became a much simpler task.

"One, two, and three." Gerome said, signalling the end of the match.

"Well, that was fun." I said as I got off minerva "Harder than I expected, but fun."

"Well, she's the best wyvern out there, of course it was hard." Gerome said as Minerva padded up to him"And it looks like Minerva had fun as well." Gerome leaned over towards his wyvern "What's that, Minerva? You want to do it again some time? Well, maybe if Soleil wants to…"

"Sure, I'll be free in a few days. You'll have to work around my training sessions with Mom, though."

"That sounds fine. Thursday?"

"I'm good then. I'll see you then."

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_William pov_

"What did you bring me over here for?" Lena asked, holding onto my arm as I guided her into the forest clearing. "You said there was something important I needed to see, but all I see is-"

"Hello William, Lena." Nox said waving towards us from on top of a small stump that he was using for a chair.

"Why yes, Nox is what I wanted you to see." I said as I found a seat for Lena and I. "He is my teacher, after all."

"Wait, I thought that your teacher was a servant of Grima… and a woman. I suppose the small stature fits considering what you told me about her ability." Lena said in a confused tone.

"I suppose I should reiterate: he is a version of my teacher from another outrealm."

"So he's Koto, except from another outrealm and another gender entirely." Lena reaffirmed.

"Well, not quite, but we do share the same genetics." Nox said calmly before continuing "Basically, in my outrealm they captured me instead of killed me. Afterwards, L- er, Aquilla, used a form of dark magic akin to that of the legendary Manfroy, and used me as a puppet so that he could keep all of his firepower in line. I've done much that I do not wish to say, but I will say this to you, Lena: thank you for taking care of my student when no one else would."

"No, I wasn't the only one who-" Lena began, flustered, before Nox cut her off.

"I know that some at least trusted him and one or two became his friends, but you were the one who gave him what no one else was willing to: love. For that, I must thank you. I'm glad to know that even if something befalls me, there will be someone her to be his anchor." And with that, Nox vanished.

"Well, when he asked me to bring you here I thought he'd talk for a lot longer than that." William said as he pulled out a basket "I even prepared lunch."

"Well, it's nice over here, and I wouldn't want to let that food go to waste, maybe we could stay here for a while." Lena said, her cheeks flushed "We haven't really gotten the chance to be alone much recently, have we?"

"It has been a while." I said thoughtfully "Alright then, let's eat."

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_? pov_

"Hey Dad, let me take this job on by myself, okay?" I asked as I prepped up my crossbows and made sure everything was ready. The dual crossbows were specially made, with the entirety of the weapons being made of orhicalcum, the same material used in the weapons wielded by dragons and those of holy blood. In addition, both had a complex locking system designed to allow me to carry a magazine of bolts attached to the bow and fire in rapid succession.

"Are you sure, **Troy**? This guy took down the last few squads that we sent in." My father, Conner, asked me. The two of us were currently outside of the house of a wealthy businessman who had been evading taxes for several months.

"Please, this is nothing compared to some of the assignments Lord Grima gave me when I was younger, by the time I was fifteen I was on the frontlines kicking some Ylissean ass. Besides, you have the younger versions of me and Joel, right? You all need to be together when Grima rises this time, I don't want my younger self to have to deal with what I have, or what I will be facing in the coming year."

"Fair enough. Good luck."

I put on my mask, a plain black thing with the mark of Grima emblazoned on it. Combined with my black cloak and hood, the mask made my appearance one that many likened to death.

"The fang of Grima doesn't need luck to get the job done right." I said as I kicked the door to the building down.

When I entered the building, I was greeted by a large space that was mostly open but with several pillars and other hiding spots. I could see a man hiding behind a pillar to the right and the tip of what looked to be a bow in one of the windows, they were more than well enough hidden to evade the eyes of most, but after spending nearly a decade of my life serving Grima, I knew exactly where I needed to look. However, I decided to ignore them for now in favor of the target, who was lounging calmly in his chair.

"Mister Rigel, you have been evading your taxes for a year now, and it's long past time to collect your payment. Now we can do this one of two ways: either you give me twenty percent of your year's income, a hefty five billion gold, or I can kill you and simply take it myself."

"How about option three? I kill you and get off scot free."

The sniper in the window prepared his bow, but I was already preparing my aim. My bolt left my crossbow a second before his arrow, and spit the arrow in half before it could travel any more than five feet. The bolt made its way to the snipers heart, and he fell to the ground with loud thud.

The man behind the pillar leapt out towards me. Turned out the man was a swordmaster, judging from his speed. The swordmaster attacked me with his katana, but I deflected the blow with the crossbow in my right hand before taking the one in my left hand and bashing his head. The man crumpled to the ground quickly.

Rigel reached towards a set of knives under his chair, and I fired a bolt into his hand, eliciting a loud shriek. I then proceeded to point a crossbow towards his head "I'll ask you again, the money or your life?"

"Can I at least take off five million to make up for those mercenaries? They were the best on the market." Wow, apparently sellswords are of much lower skill here than they were in the future. I supposed that made sense.

"One: Personal expenditures don't have any effect on taxes, it's your own loss. Two: you have some balls, trying to negotiate when you're in such a position, I like that. Now, give me the damned cash!" I lifted my free crossbow and fired a bot at the ceiling for emphasis.

"Okay, I'll pay, I'll pay!" Rigel lead me towards his personal safe. I pulled out a leather bag, and Rigel began unloading gems into it until he had payed the fee."  
"Pleasure doing business with you." I said as I pulled the bag over my shoulder and began to walk towards the door.

"What's with the raise in tax for the wealthy, anyway?"

"Well, if you haven't noticed, we just got out of a war a few years ago. We still need to pay for some repairs, and we need to do our best to take care of those orphaned by the war. That takes up half the taxes. The other half goes towards the military, since we may very well be entering another war soon." Grima himself had forced the policy of recovery onto Validar, who had intended to keep it solely for military purposes. The country was already looking nicer than it was in my early years, although it still wasn't as nice as it was when I first returned at the age of twelve.

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**Not my best chapter, but it got through some much needed development. We finally sorta know what's going on with Nox, and we have another new character now. Troy belongs to Pyrojack25.**


	36. Dark Magic and Darker Dragons

**Reviews:**

**Cormag: I don't mind them, I mean people who can turn into dragons have been a thing for 25 years and people turned into oversized housecats in Tellius. Like a real Feroxian! Last one, I promise.**

**Pyro: There is no such thing as a normal family in this story,**

**Disclaimer: Intelligent Systems owns FireEmblem, not me.**

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_Blaze pov_

"Hey Blaze, sorry to be a bother, but can I borrow-" Geralt said as he walked into my tent, pausing when he saw the mess. Papers were scattered about, detailing my plans for the reconstruction of Roseanne, as well as many of the smaller Valmese countries that Valm had taken control of over the past few years. "What is all of this?"

"Here, this has the basics. I'm honestly glad you came here now, I could use your help." I said as I handed him the paper that I had been working on.

"Interesting." Geralt hummed as he read through the papers "You want to adopt the smaller countries on the continent? That kind of union would have helped stave off Grima's rise, and still could should we fail. The smaller nations didn't get the chance to create a strong army before his rise, and that would be changed with Roseanne's rule."

"It would also help to prevent anything like this from happening again. Walhart's reign came so quickly because of all the smaller nations on this continent giving him the ability to gain power in a swift manner. If we can divide the continent into three countries of similar size, then there will be much less room for any single nation to gain more power than the others." I said as I rubbed the bridge of my nose. I had barely gotten any sleep in the past few weeks while I did this, Ruffles seriously needed to learn to do this stuff himself.

"And I see that you want to place members of the Bloodrose Legion at the head of each nation, and each of your chosen leaders are in the Thirteen Thorns, good." The Thirteen Thorns were the highest ranking members of the legion, being made up of myself, Cherche, and my twelve most trusted generals. Gerome, Geralt, and Ciri had spots waiting for them, but that was only if they chose to remain in our time.

"On that note, could you look over my choices in positions?"

"Sure. Let's see, you have Marius over Cyanus, good choice. He was one of the best swordsmen in Roseanne as well as my instructor. If I remember correctly, Cyanus was also his homeland before he became a mercenary." I nodded "And you have Alex covering Solana, he could help develop a nice dark mage corps there. Let's just hope he can stand the cold there, I've heard it's worse than Ferox." Geralt flipped the paper over "You have Aiden over Cattleya, which I honestly can't say anything about. Cattleya was never had much of an army outside of their own Grimleal purges, they were more of a market nation. Well, we'll see what army Aiden can make out of them, he's certainly good at whipping people into shape." Geralt looked down the rest of the page before freezing at a line "Why are Vincent and Colby over the same country?"

"Well, I was going to give Astera to Vincent, but then I remembered that he sucks at politics. Then I was going to go with Colby, but while he's very charismatic and can gather the people together, he's not as underhanded as Vincent."

"How does being underhanded make Colby ill-suited?"

"Think of it this way: which is better in a fight, going head to head against someone or kicking the guy in the dick to get the advantage? Colby would go brute force while Vincent would work around it through some crazy means. A leader must be calculating and charismatic, and both are lacking in one trait and excelling the other, so I put the two together to make one excellent leader. Normally I wouldn't use such a method, but those two are so close that it would be almost like having one great leader instead of two weaker ones."

"I suppose that does work, as strange as it is. Anyway, when are you showing this to the reconstruction council?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, we have to be at a conference tomorrow at noon."

Geralt pressed his hand to his face "Thank you so much for waiting until now to tell me. I guess I'll just go cancel my plans with Severa." Geralt said bitterly.

"Hopefully she'll understand." I said nervously as I rubbed the back of my head.

"Do you realize who we're talking about here?"

"Good point. Good luck with that, son."

"I told you before, you aren't my Dad. He died several years ago."

"And I told you, I don't care about any of that. Different me or not, you're still my son."

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_Soren pov_

"Here you go, Soren! I got everything that seemed like it might be useful!" Morgan said cheerily as she set a stack of books on my desk.

I had asked Morgan to help me compile as many books involving studies about ancient dark magic. "Thank you, this should help to find out exactly what Grima is planning. Most people think that he's just out to erase the humans from existence, but I doubt a dragon would attempt such a feat without a purpose." I cycled through the stack of books, seeing if any of them seemed to be particularly useful. I stopped as one title caught my eye, although for a much different reason: 'The Magic of Seduction: The Dark Arts and the Bedroom'.

"Morgan, could you please tell me exactly what this is?"

"A self help book?" Morgan said as she took on the most innocent look that she could manage.

"And what, pray tell, do you think that I would need a book's help with?"

"Oh, I don't know, I thought maybe you and Lucy could use it for some stuff."

"We're not married, so that's a no."

"Oh come on, the two of you have been through so much together! What difference does a ring make at this point?"

"A lot, especially with people in positions as high as Lucina and I." In fact, the idea of the son of a mere strategist marrying the exalt wouldn't even be possible under most circumstances "Besides, we're too young to properly handle any consequences that com as a result."

"You're older than Dad was when he had you." Morgan pointed out.

"And that turned out just wonderfully, didn't it?" I retorted sharply.

"Hey, that's no fair! Dad was possessed at the time! On that note, most of the shepherds were younger than you are now when they had kids. Hell, Kira wasn't much older than you are now when he basically adopted you."

"Fair point, but what do you think Dad would have to say about something like that?"

"He'd probably just give you a lecture about using the proper wards before telling you to go for it."

"No he'd- um,actually, you're probably right. What do you think Mom would say?"

"Now you're just reaching, she wouldn't even bother giving you a lecture."

"Good point." I said as I pressed my hand against my face "But no means no." I walked over and placed the book in a small chest and locked it. I wasn't going to get rid of something my Sister gave me and I certainly wasn't going to put it anywhere Lucina might see it. "Anyway, would you like to help me with my research?"

"Sure!" Morgan said cheerfully as she pulled a book out of the pile "Oooh, this one looks like it may be a good start: 'Resire and Nosferatu: The Arms Race Between the Divine and Earth Dragons'."

The first few chapters were rather simple topics covering things like the evolution of light and dark magic as a result of Naga and the Earth Dragons' attempts to thwart each other, the creation of nations and religions based around the dragons, and ways in which dragons were able to interfere with human affairs such as the methods of possession used by Loptyr, Naga, and Forseti. While these were quite interesting, they did not hold much to aid our cause. However, we knew that we had chosen the right book when we found the chapter "Draconic Traits and Holy Blood."

_"There are many heroes regarded for the might granted upon them by _

_ dragons,such as the great Sigurd, the Hero King Marth, and even the_

_ horrific Julius; however, what exactly creates such augmentations in_

_ the capabilities of a human? This power is caused by a contract _

_ involving a dragon's powers being bestowed upon a human. In_

_ most cases, the human is given only slightly enhanced abilities_

_ in their normal state, but the warrior's power increases dramatically _

_ when they are wielding his or her holy weapon. This is due to the fact_

_ that in most of these contracts, the power is granted to a weapon rather_

_ than the person himself, and as such these humans only receive natural _

_ augmentations as a result of indirect exposure to the dragon's power._

_ This is done as a precaution meant to safeguard the human contracted_

_ by the dragon, as power being added directly to a human would change _

_ him or her into a different being entirely: a being between a human and a _

_ dragon, not unlike a manakete. Over the generations, the descendants _

_ of the contracted human would adapt to this change until they form a new_

_subspecies of humans, after which a second surge of power from the same dragon could theoretically bridge the gap and allow the hybrid to lose what little humanity is left, allowing a hybrid to become a full blooded dragon."_

"Brother, do you think this is actually possible?" Morgan asked in a scared tone.

"Well… humans and dragons have proven to be quite similar on multiple occasions. In fact, those descended from Eliwood of Pharae can also trace their heritage back to an ice dragon who fell in love with a human, so hybrids are certainly possible. The idea of a human becoming a dragon sound implausible, but it may very well be a possibility, as horrifying as it may be."

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_Geralt pov_

The debates were already wearing on me. The Ylissean and Chon'sin reps all tried to distract themselves as the arguments went on, feeling like complete outsiders and practically left out of discussions. Soren hadn't even bothered to show up yet. Dear Naga, this conference was going horribly.

"You want us to give our nation over to some Roseanne union? I do believe my teutonic knights are just fine without your help, thank you very much." The portly, black haired duke of Cyanus said gruffly as he crossed his arms and let out a loud huff. As usual, the dukes over the smaller Valmese countries were being stubborn idiots. Compared to these guys, even Virion looked like a good leader.

"Yes, your wonderful knights who failed horribly when Walhart came , aside from Chon'sin, we were the only ones who put up a half decent fight against them." Blaze said bitterly as he placed his feet on his desk and glared at the council, giving an intimidating air. "And if you thought Walhart was bad, wait until you see Grima. From what I hear, your troops have been struggling to fend off even the smallest of risen hordes. What do you expect to do when you have legions of them coming at you?"

"In addition." I added "Valm would have lasted much longer if-"

"Stop!" The duke of Astera yelled with his gruff, thickly accented voice. His thick, orange beard waved from the force of the air leaving his lungs. "I will not hear the complaints of a duke who will not see beyond the bridge of his nose and I do not care for the words of Roseanneans who are vying to increase their own power!" the duke was pretty much the only voice of reason out of the nobles. Unlike the other dukedoms, where aside from Solana's harsh cold everything was typically peaceful, Astera was a land ravaged by war, so the duke knew how to properly take care of a nation during reconstruction.

"Well, I'm neither of those. Can I give you my piece of advice?"Soren asked on a confident manner as he strode into the conference room. The tactician kept a smug look on his face, although the bags under his eyes betrayed him.

"I will not listen to the word of some street rat from another nation!" The duke of Cyanus yelled angrily. I sincerely hoped that Marius would whip that man into shape.

"Let him speak." Astera's duke said "He knows more about our situation than any of us dukes, and he can provide us with some neutral ground."

"Well, if we fail to stop Grima and you remain separated, your nations will not last very long." Soren looked towards the duke of Cyanus "For example, the knights of Cyanus fell in a mere four months in our time. On the other hand." Soren pointed towards Blaze and I "Roseanne lasted for at least five years, and that's only as far as we know. While the nation was drastically weakened when our Rossanean members came to us, I'd estimate that they survived at least a year or two afterwards, a length which only Chon'sin and Ylisse outlasted." None of these nations were entirely decimated, but these were the times it took for governmental collapse to occur.

"I believe that is all I needed to hear." The duke of Astera said calmly " I accept." The duke then looked at Blaze "Then I'll be taking the Mad Tactician and the Silver Shark as my new generals."

"Yes, that's right." Blaze said before looking up "I honestly kind of expected Vincent to come falling from the roof, of crashing through the the ceiling, or popping up through the floorboards, or something like that. Vincent is quite unpredictable." He rubbed the back of his head.

"I suppose I'll swallow my pride and join." The duke of Cyanus said sadly "The knights could use a skilled swordsman to train them and we will not last long without your aid. I submit."

Seeing the duke surrender to the terms of the treaty immediately sparked a change in the conference's atmosphere. One by one, each of the remaining dukes decided to sign the treaty, the weight of Soren's words now hitting them harder than an angry wyvern. Soon, the Rossannean Union was formed, and the conference was adjourned.

After the dukes left, I began to walk towards the exit, only for Soren to place his hand on my shoulder and stop me. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I need all representatives who are in the shepherds to stay here. I'll need every bit of strategic aid I can possibly get." Soren's eyes held a wild look, filled with determination, weariness, and a hint of fear. This mixed with the bags under his eyes made it all too evident that he had spent all night doing some form of research, a task which I had seen Soren do all to often on our journeys together.

"S-sure Soren." I stuttered, flinching under his piercing gaze "What do you need help with?"

"Well first off, I need you two." Soren pointed directly at Blaze and Kira "It's no secret that you are different from the others here, and I need your knowledge."

"You could have just said they were from a distant outrealm." Chrom said calmly "We all know that at this point. Not all of the shepherds do but Kira spends way too much time near us for it to have stayed secret forever."

"That and Emm told them." Kira added.

"Anyway, I need you to tell me if this is possible." Soren pulled out a book, flipped the pages, and handed it to Kira and Blaze.

"Well, humans and dragons aren't all that different, so that's one thing. Now let's see…" Kira began after several minutes of reading the passage over.

"Wait, what do you mean humans and dragon are similar?" Chrom sputtered, caught off guard by Kira's statement.

"Well, I've talked about this subject before with Blaze and a few others, but we've seen manakete, human-dragon hybrids, bear children." Kira said.

"And hybrids between two species are incapable of having children, which means that humans and dragons must be the same species." Blaze said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Now this lead to one question: do dragons have a separate set of alleles for their genes that can't be found inside humans or do their bodies simply interpret their genes differently? If the dragons have different alleles entirely, then turning a human into a dragon would be absolutely impossible. However, if the dragons simply determine genes differently, then it would be possible to do so if the dragon could find a way to alter your body's gene interpretation. This could be done by using some form of magic to alter it to match his own. You would still be very different from him,as you would still have our own genes, just different interpretations, but anatomically speaking you would be a dragon. Of course, in our world there was never a case where such a diverse species existed, nor dragons outside of our own imaginations for that matter, so this is mostly conjecture. However, given that Grima's contract was done directly to your ancestor's body, this hypothesis holds a little water."

"So, do you think that it would be possible for Grima's contract to make a human more dragon-like?" Khrow asked, trying to wrap his mind around what he just heard. It flew over my head as well, and I'm sure that Blaze was the only one who understood any of that, given that they were from the same strange world.

"Soren's already proven that much. From what you told me about your battle against the Valmese fleet, Soren was able to use an earthstone. This wouldn't be possible if he was fully human." Blaze said as he clasped his hands around each other.

"In other words, while what's in that book isn't guaranteed to be true, it's possible, and you should keep that in mind." Kira said frankly.

"I swear I can hear Darwin rolling in his grave from here." Blaze commented.

"Who's-" Robin began, only to be cut off.

"Anyway, we should probably begin thinking of possible plans Grima could use this for. I have a few ideas myself, but I'd like to run them by you guys before I say anything for certain. Does anyone have paper to write this all down on?"

"Yes, actually." Robin said as she fished a notebook out of her robes "Chrom has a habit of falling asleep during important meetings, so I usually take notes for him.

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**And an extra plot-heavy chapter coming right up! Kinda finished Awkwardly, though. I've been waiting to introduce this for a while now. Dragons in Fire Emblem really break the idea of regular genetics, which led me to wonder whether a human could become a dragon, that combined with my idea that the reason the MU almost dies after defeating Grima is because his entire body is a holy weapon spawned this idea. **

**I wonder if anyone can figure out how this ties into Grima's plans.**

**Be sure to leave a review, next time we'll be heading into the grimleal arc.**


	37. Through Draconic Eyes

**Review Answers**

**Cormag: Hmm, we'll be moving this chapter, but probably not in the way you initially expected.**

**Ace: No lore is safe from this story, even the retcons get retconned.**

**Pyro: Not even close.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem.**

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_Grima pov_

"Why did you ask me to come see you, milord?" Aquila asked with a questioning gaze. It was quite rare for me to call in one of my champions without bringing the other three in as well.

"I have a special task for you to accomplish. I need you in here because I don't want this getting out to the rest of the grimleal and I only chose you because despite this task being of utmost importance, it is not one that will be very difficult, especially with your talent at molding stone to your will." I explained simply before going on to inform my cohort of his task "Validar is planning an ambush upon the shepherds. I want you to ensure all members of my lineage as well as Naga's will survive the attack. As for the others, you can make the choice of who you want to spare." I smiled "It would be a shame if any of Naga's kin missed out on my rise to glory."

Aquila bowed "Then I shall spare them all so that they may see you in your full splendor, milord."

"And I'll make sure to make them into my deadlords. I doubt I'll have to take too much of their intellect to keep them under control, and they will make fine generals." I rubbed my chin "Although I'll have to leave at least a few of them as humans, the earth dragons will not be able to rise again if my children don't have mates."

"And I assume that you don't care about collateral damage?"

"Aside from you and my other champions, I have no love for the grimleal. You all joined me upon hearing my plan, but the rest of them legitimately called upon me out of hatred for their own kind. Such wretches are no better than Naga is. Anyway, you're free to go now."

"Then I shall see you tomorrow night at the Dragon Table. I'll make sure that the others assume the deaths are accidents." Aquila said before turning and heading out of the door.

"And a fine night it will be." I said to him right before he closed the door.

Once the room was empty, I leaned back into my chair and looked towards the ceiling, allowing my mind to be drawn into the past. It was difficult for me to believe that the next day would be my three thousandth birthday.

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_2,900 years ago_

It was on my one hundredth birthday that I was named as the crown prince of all dragons. History would later label my line as the 'earth dragon' royal family, but this was due to a case of historic whitewashing. In fact, all earth dragons were considered royalty, the divine dragons formed the parliament that balanced our power, and the anima dragons were the commoners and the soldiers, with the title of Demon Dragon being granted upon the head general.

I remember the uncomfortable as I felt the stares of over a thousand dragons upon me. I had been the only child of Loptyr, who was the only child of the recently retired King Medeus. With no viable line of succession, there were only two lines of thinking running through their heads: there were those who wished with all their might that I would grow to be a strong leader like my father, and those who wanted nothing less than to see me fail and for the royal family to fall from grace.

When the coronation was finally over, I immediately left the main hall to roam around Iristahl castle in search of something to play with. The castle was gorgeous and immense, although sadly it would only be a few centuries before the castle was destroyed, and the city it was stationed in would become populated by humans and renamed Ylisstol due to an error in translation.

I eventually found a ball inside one of the supply closets. My life up to that point had been very sheltered, and on top of that most of the other young dragons I met were either nervous or afraid when they were in my presence, so I had never had someone I could call my friend. As such, I simply played by myself, throwing the ball at a wall and then hitting it once it came back, a solo game of tennis. This went on for several minutes until I accidentally hit the ball too hard, sending the ball flying out into the hallway.

"Ow!" A male voice yelled out as the sound of the ball hitting him resounded through the hallway. "What's this? A ball? I'll find the brat who did this and give him a good thrashing." The man grumbled.

"Oh calm down, Forseti. It's just a ball. And I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it." A second voice, female, rang through the hallway.

I slowly creeped out into the hallway, steeling my nerves.

"Oy! Are you the runt who threw-" 'Forseti' yelled as he stormed towards me, only to be stopped by his friend. The two were both a bright emerald green, a shade only found in Divine Dragons. Forseti looked to be around two thousand while the female was… one thousand four hundred or so? I don't remember certain, but I know that was her actual age at the time.

"Hey there, I'm Naga, what's your name?" Naga bent over to match my height and held a claw out to me.

"I'm Grima." I said simply as I shook her claw.

"Oh shit, I almost went off on the prince!" Forseti then held his hand to his mouth as he gasped "Oh crap! I just cursed around Loptyr's son!"Forseti kneeled down "Please forgive me, dear prince."

"Don't mind him too much, he gets like this often." Naga sighed "Anyway, you were playing alone, weren't you? Do you wanna play with us?"

"Yes, I think I'd like that."

From then on, Naga treated me as if I were her little brother, and I would soon become acquainted with her friends, all of the divine dragons aside from Salamander.

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_2,750 years ago_

"Hey, Grima did you hear about Salamander's kid, Naga?" My Great Grandfather, Ananko's voice could be heard through the hallway.

"Yeah, I heard she's pregnant with the child of a human." Grima responded "It's a damned disgrace, if you ask me. Does she not know how humans are? Welcome them to your dinner table, and they'll poison your food and then proceed to eat their own as if nothing happened. Once you're dead on the ground, they'll take everything you own and erase all memory of what you once were. In the end, your name will be all that's left of you." This viewpoint was one that both myself and my Grandfather disagreed with, but it was one shared by all the other earth dragon's.

At the time, I had disregarded my father's words, believing them to be nothing more than fearful ramblings. It would be a few more centuries before I learned just how accurate this was.

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_2,500 years ago_

In the corner of my eye I saw a familiar green figure fly by over the rooftops. Naga.

She landed in front of one of the nearby houses and let out a massive blast of flame, lighting the entirety of the building.

She turned around for a moment, as if she could tell someone was looking at her. Her maw was covered in blood, with small chunks of skin and bone caught between her teeth. Her paws, once green, were now entirely a crimson color due to blood caked in her scales.

After a few seconds, she entered the burning building to ensure that none of her targets were still alive.

"Grima, come on, we must go!" My Grandfather said as he grabbed my wrist "We're going to Doluna and becoming manakete, we have to hurry!" The bellows of human soldiers and the shrieks of my fellow dragons were very audible, some of which being extremely close. The temperature was constantly rising as more and more buildings were set ablaze.

"Where are Father and Great Grandfather going?" I asked as I began to pick my pace up and started to run alongside my Grandfather. We couldn't fly, lest we be shot down by the forces of the humans and dragons around us.

"They are both going to form their own resistances against this threat, as they refused to 'lower themselves' to becoming manakete. Your father is heading to a land called Grannvale, where he has a small following of humans to defend him. Your Great Grandfather will be heading to a new territory, a land called Nohr. Now, let's quit the chit chat and hurry."

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_2,000 years ago_

"Sir, I found another manakete. He has an earth stone like Medeus." A grey haired knight named Jagen said as he dragged me by the hand. The knight had caught me when my earth stone was well out of reach, leaving me without my greatest tool, although not completely defenseless. "What do you think we should do with him?"

"By the gods, Jagen! This boy can not be much older than Tiki is, we need to leave him alone!" Marth replied furiously. As most humans did, he treated me as if I was a child despite the fact that I was at least fifty times his own age.

"Just because he's small does not mean he isn't a threat, Milord!" Jagen said in frustration "Tiki is just as young and she can tear through enemy soldiers as if they were paper! This boy is likely descended from Medeus, we can not simply leave him alone. We have to do something!"

Marth let out a heavy, weary sigh "I suppose you're right." Marth turns around to talk to a small green haired girl behind him "Tiki, you can contact Naga, right?" So this was the girl that had caused so much controversy, the half human that was mothered by Naga and supposedly led to her betrayal. Had things been under better circumstances, I would likely have found her to be quite cute. However, due to my experiences with her mother, the only feeling that came with seeing her was rage.

"Yes, I can. Or I can try, at least." Tiki replied before she bowed her hands and clasped her hands together, as a human would in prayer. Interesting way for a girl to have to speak to her own mother.

Several minutes elapsed, but no word came.

"Milord, I think we should go ahead and kill this boy before he gets the chance to do anything to us." Jagen said as his face contorted. He wasn't exactly content with this situation either, as much as he tried to hide it.

"No, Mar Mar! Give me more time! Please, let me spare this one life." Tiki said. I was shocked to hear the daughter of a traitor trying to defend me.

More time passed, Marth allowing Tiki to try and contact Naga for a full hour to no avail.

"Milord-"

"Mar Mar!"

The two began to debate over my life, with every word Visibly wearing Marth down.

"Mar Mar, he's an earth dragon! He could have cast some form of powerful spell on us by now and yet he hasn't lifted a finger against us! It's fine to leave him alone!"

"Milord, that's just what he wants you to think. He'll wait until he's grown and then he'll rise up and destroy the nation we fought so hard to protect!"

Marth's arm shook as he lifted his sword. "I'm sorry, Tiki. I can't wait for Naga's word any longer." The man let out a heavy breath as he looked me in the eye "May I please know your name?"

"Grima, sir. Are you sure that you have to do this? I'm sure we could find peace." I said, stating my foolish ambitions. I still wished for peace between dragons and humans at that young age. I was sure that if Naga hadn't intervened, we could have already found a common ground. That was why I did not fight back.

"I'm sorry Grima, but I don't think that will be possible. Farewell." Marth readied Falchion and jabbed the blade swiftly into my ribcage before kicking me off of it. I let out a massive shriek as the wound seared me from the inside, my then weak body not being able to take the pain of the light magic. My vision began to blur, my voice grew weak, and slowly ichor began to seep all the way up through my mouth, covering my tongue with the overwhelming taste of iron.

History would later go on to depict me as a massive beast out to destroy all of humanity, and associate my death with another person entirely, Math's ancestor Anri. Anri had already been credited with defeating my Grandfather by that point, as a revision on an event where he had attempted a trade deal with the first Exalt of Altea and Anri ran him off. Humanity had a bad habit of twisting events in order to justify their actions, and they had an even worse habit of attacking those they are afraid of regardless of their intentions. However, I suppose that us dragons have done so on many occasions ourselves.

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_1,000 years ago_

"Son, you have no idea how proud I am of you. You've grown so much since I last saw you. In a few centuries you will probably be stronger than I am. You even have your own bloodline and a host now." Loptyr said, in the form of his current host, Julius. A few years earlier, I had started my own line with one of Julius' servants. "However, I need you to get out of here." Seliph's army was currently outside of the castle. Even worse, they had managed to defeat Manfroy.

"No, Father! I can fight for myself now! Besides, where will I go? Ananko's the only living member of our family and we don't even know where he is!" If I lost my father, then I would have nothing left. If I had ran, I'd be left alone once more, but if I fought, then I would have had a chance to not only save my father but weaken the hold the divine dragons had on humanity.

"I heard that a group that calls themselves the Grimleal have been growing in power in Plegia, the country that was formed on Doluna's ruins, over the past few centuries. They will protect you, and once you have had children and your body has degraded, they will work to ensure that eventually you will be able to get a new host, one much better than the one you currently reside in." He was wrong, actually. There would be two hosts waiting for me when the grimleal accomplished their goal. "Now go! I will hold this castle as long as possible, but Julia has gotten a hold of the Book of Naga. If by some miracle I win, I will make contact with you, but I doubt that will happen."

"Please, let me fight, Father. I don't want to lose someone else!"

"Don't worry, son." My father smiled "This body may vanish, but I will still be alive. I'll simply have to wait in the dragon realm until you can find a way to orchestrate my return." My father pushed me towards the door "Now good luck and farewell!"

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_999 years ago_

"Grandfather, what did you want me to come here for?" I asked my Grandfather, who was lying in his bed. When I made my way to Plegia, I learned that he had revived himself a few centuries earlier and had been the one to form the grimleal.

"Grima, do you still believe that humans and dragons can live in peace?"

"Of course, Grandfather!"

My Grandfather smiled at me "I'm glad to see that your experiences haven't broken you. With your strength of will and magic, I'm sure that you would have been a far greater king than your father and I. However, there is one obstacle that you will need to erase if you wish to do so."

"The Divine Dragons." I said solemnly "Without their guidance and weapons, they would not be so quick to charge at us. There would still be a great deal of aggression coming from the humans, but a small enough that I could handle it. Over time, I'm sure that they would realize that humans and dragons are not as different as they believe."

"Grima, I am not long for this world. I have been slain twice with the blade of the Falchion now, and both times my quintessence was greatly diminished. I am thankful that I got to see you once more, and that my last centuries could be spent building this empire for you. I want you to take what I have given you and use it to accomplish your dreams. Will you promise me to follow your dreams, Grima?"

"Yes, yes I will." I said, my voice shaking at the prospect of losing my Grandfather once more.

My Grandfather shakily reached towards me and clasped my hand. "Good. No matter what you do, I will still be proud of you. Remember that, Grima." My Grandfather said before closing his eyes.

His breathing slowed until it stopped. "Grandfather? Grandfather!" I yelled as tears filled my eyes. I had finally found him again, only for him to leave me again within a matter of months.

That day, I vowed to myself that I would avenge my Father and my Grandfather. It was the Divine Dragons who killed them. It was them who betrayed us, and brought about the end of the dragons. And it would be me, the king, who would make sure that the traitorous pigs were put to slaughter.

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_Present day_

I looked at my hand, covered in blood. As the memories rushed to me, I clenched my fist with enough force to break through my skin.

I then remembered what would be taking place the next day, and I started laughing to myself "You better enjoy the rewards of your victory, Naga, because it will all come crashing down on you soon. When your death comes, it will be at the hands of the very people you once fought so hard to 'protect'."

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**And We finally get to see things from Grima's perspective. Not what you all expected, was it? This chapter felt very iffy for me due to not being used to flashbacks, but I still think I got across what I wanted to. Next chapter, we're headed to the Dragon Table! I have quite a few surprises planned for you all, hehehe.**


	38. Dragon Table

**Finally got a new chapter! Took long enough. And this is the last one of the summer too, most likely. I have to go back on Monday.**

**On to reviews:**

**Pyro: Given the backstory of FE4 and FE7, a dragon without a tragic backstory would seem rather odd.**

**Cormag: This is well before that though, so I'd assume Forseti would have a bit of a lighter mood then. After the scouring, however, such a personality would be impossible.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem**

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_Khrow pov_

I looked on in shock as a bubble of magic energy surrounded Chrom and I. "It looks like we won't be able to help the others" I said as I heard the initial cries of the battle outside.

"At the moment, I think we have more pressing matters on our hands" Chrom said as he pointed the Falchion towards our foe, Validar. "Defeating him is the first step towards our victory!"

"If only it were that simple" I muttered to myself as I brandished my silver sword. "I fear this is only the beginning."

"You need to ease up a little." Chrom said. How could he be so calm at a time like this?

Chrom charged towards Validar, and I followed. Outside of our cage the sounds of battle could be heard. On the bright side of things, we still had Robin with the others to keep things running smoothly. Probably the better choice as well, she had always been the better strategist while I was better at brute forcing things.

Validar launched a massive line of pillars towards us, and we both dove in different directions and rolled. Before I landed on the ground, I felt one of the needles tear at the leg of my cloak, ripping it. That was a close one.

In perfect unison, Chrom and I swung our blades at Validar, striking from both sides.

"The kin of Naga and Grima working together. I never thought I'd see the day." Validar said as he raised both of his hands and conjured two blasts of dark energy that deflected both of our blades.

"And even together, you are not nearly strong enough to escape fate." Validar's eyes glazed slightly, taking on a look somewhere between anger and sadness. "To think the two of you would even attempt to defeat Grima with such a meager amount of power."

"I'm stronger than you think!" I yelled as I struck once more. A resounding crack rang out as my blade clashed with Validar's hardened dark magic. The force sent Validar skidding several feet. "No mere dragon will ever be enough to decide my fate!"

"That look in your eyes." Validar let out a sigh "You remind me so much of your mother. Fiery, brilliant, wonderful in every way, but taken by hubris. Although I suppose that I attributed to your hubris as well, I was once as arrogant and hopeful as you." Validar's eyes hardened as he glared at me "Don't you understand by now? This is how it has to be, there's no other way! Our bloodline was destined to cause ruin from the start, and nothing will ever change that!"

"The future isn't set in stone!" Chrom said as he lifted himself from the ground and brandished Falchion.

"And even if it is" I said as I prepared my own blade "We can still change it. No matter how concrete the future is, there will always be another way."

"So foolish. No matter what you change, no matter how soon the change happens, the end will always be the same!" Validar yelled. Were those tears in his eyes?

"You're wrong. There is nothing, not even the end of the world, that cannot be prevented." I said as I began to charge towards Validar.

"Then prove it to me! Show me change!" Validar pulled out the false emblem from his hand "If anything can be changed, then change this!" A dark pulse ran though the emblem, causing it to glow a deep purple.

I felt a jolt running through my head. Even without the actual Fire Emblem, Validar's hex was exceedingly powerful.

"It was always your fate to kill this young man here. That is something you can never escape, it was foretold centuries before you were even born." Validar stated in a matter-of-fact tone that seemed to hold a twinge of sadness,

I felt the hand I held my sword in grasp the blade with such force that blood began to seep from my hand. My legs moved without my consent as I charged towards Chrom. I went for a lunge, aimed at his heart-

And managed to move my arm to the side at the last moment.

The change in direction was not enough for me to miss completely, and I still left a massive wound with my thrust, but I managed to divert my blade from any vitals.

It seemed the exalt would live to see another day.

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Despite all of my best plans, Grima's rise still came.

"You all should have listened to old Validar and gave up. Fate isn't as easy to defy as you seem to think." The newly risen Grima said "It seems the help of your children simply wasn't enough. It's time to welcome a new age, an age of rebirth for dragons!" Grima raised his hand, his brand glowing, a deep purple tint filling the entire room "Men, you know what to do!"

We all tensed up as the grimleal began to all move at once. It had initially seemed like we would have another battle to face, but it seemed they had different intentions. All of the grimleal, even the mages, pulled blades from their cloaks and ended their own lives.

Grima snapped his fingers, and all of the men that had just fallen arose once more "Welcome once more to the grimleal, you shall all have key roles in the creation of a new age. Squads one through three, stay with me. The rest of you are dismissed." Grima then looked towards Validar, who was still alive "First, I think I should deal with the traitor."

"T-t-traitor? But milord, I have followed your every whim!" Validar stammered nervously.

"Have you really?" Grima smirked as he held his hand out towards Validar, a ball of purple energy forming in it. Basillo tensed up, preparing to strike from behind. "Do you honestly think you hid your betrayal from me so well? You've been trying to gain the upper hand on me for years, but it's never worked. You sewed seeds of fear in Valm and opened the way for a conqueror to arise, only for him to end up aiding my goal. You sent your children as far away as possible and tried to pass a young girl you picked up at a village as your own, all to no avail. The girl was found out immediately, with everyone aware of the truth except for the girl, for whom you kept up the facade of a father out of grief of what you had done to her actual one." At this, I immediately looked towards Aversa, who had a tear running down her cheek. "And your real children soon came here by themselves, just begging to become my vessel. When your plans fail so spectacularly, it's no surprise that you resigned yourself to such a fatalistic manner of thinking. 'It'll happen no matter what I do, so I may as well follow orders,' is that about right?" Grima said as he prepared to fire. "You made some great moves in your attempts to stop me, but this is checkmate!" And with that, Grima fired a massive missile of dark magic towards Validar, piercing his heart.

At the same moment, Basillo rushed towards Grima, raising Armads as he attempted to attack the Fell Dragon.

With a purple flash, Grima conjures a gleaming black blade in his left hand and blocked the blow, sending a rain of sparks as Basillo's attack came grinding to a halt. Grima raised his right hand and pressed a finger against Basillo's stomach. A purple ray of light emitted from Grimas finger and exited through Basillo's back. Grima pulled away, leaving the corpse of Basillo to fall to the ground.

"That's it for the show. Men, I'll need you to help me out here instead of standing around spectating." Grima snapped his fingers,and the risen began to swarm us. Still recovering from the shock of what we had just seen, we rushed into battle.

A burst of flames could be seen as Syrenne broke her way out of the crowd.

Syrenne launched a blast of flames from the Sword of Seals, which Grima sliced in half with his blade. He responded by summoning another blade into his off hand and rushing towards Syrenne.

Grima brandished both of his blades as he lunged forward to strike the girl. Fortunately, Syrenne jumped back in time to avoid the attack and responded in kind with another flash of flame.

The flames collided with Grima's right arm, severing it with a spurt of black ichor.

Grima looked at the stub and then back to Syrenne, the girl flinching back under the Earth Dragon's piercing gaze. "Do you know how long it will take me to regrow that arm?" The dragon yelled.

"R-regrow? What?" Syrenne stammered, fear filling her voice.

Another spurt erupted as bone rapidly grew out of his stump. Next, veins, muscle, and sinew burst out to wrap around his bones, all a deep purple color. Finally, black scales formed on the muscle followed by skin. Within a single second, Grima's entire arm had regrown. "Good as new" the dragon said with a smirk as he summoned his blade into the new arm "That was a very good attack, but unfortunately for you, if you aren't my kin then the only way you can harm me is with a weapon that has been blessed by Naga."

Syrenne raised a trembling arm and attempted to attack Grima once more but the dragon blocked the attack easily with one of his blades. He then brought the other down and severed one of Syrenne's legs at the thigh. With a flick of his wrist, Grima sent the Sword of Seals flying out of Syrenne's hand. With a quick motion, Grima sliced off Syrenne's other leg, sending her to the ground.

Grima held a blade up and prepared to strike "You know, you've been a bit of a thorn in my side these past few years. Turning my son to your side, slaying gods know how many of my risen, and even using that fancy blade of yours against me. It's time to pull this thorn out."

Grima brought his blade down, only to find it stopped by a gleaming gold blade: Falchion.

"This ends here, Grima!" Chrom said as he swung his blade at Grima.

"For you, maybe." Grima tilted his head to the side, wincing as Falchion sliced through his cheek, leaving a stream of ichor. Grima let the blade in his right hand dissolve as he caught Chrom's wrist. He then brought his other elbow down as hard as possible on Chrom's arm, breaking it and causing the blue haired man to release his blade. Grima then yanked Chrom towards him and stabbed his blade to the hilt in Chrom's side before kicking him off.

"You'll look good pinned to the front of the castle" Grima said to Chrom's corpse "Serve as a reminder of why it's best to surrender."

"Brady!" I heard Lucina's voice ring out.

"I'm on it!" Brady replied as he began to launch blasts of Forseti at the risen and pulled out the Valkyrie staff. In response, several of the risen from other groups began to swarm around Brady.

Brady managed to fight his way through several of the risen, but his efforts were rendered useless when one of the risen managed to send the Valkyrie staff out of his hand and rolling towards Grima's feet.

"The Valkyrie staff" Grima said as he picked it up and began to look the staff over "The greatest staff ever made, able to revive the dead so long as a person's soul still lingers. It would be a shame if it" a small line of purple light appeared on the staff, expanding into a myriad of cracks. After a few seconds, the light completely engulfed the staff and it dissolved "broke".

Two figures could be seen cutting their way through the slightly thinned crowd. As they broke free of the risen, Soren and Lucina simultaneously lunged towards Grima.

Grima strode backwards as he dodged, avoiding any wounds but obtaining a large tear in his robe from Soren's blade. "That was a nice strike, my son." Grima said to Soren before looking at Lucina "And I'm surprised that you're standing strong after what you just witnessed. You've changed a lot from the scared girl who used to struggle against a few risen, I'm honestly a little proud." Grima said in a patronizing voice.

"You aren't my father." Soren said as he brandished Clarent "Don't insult my real one by acting as if you were, you fucking monster!" Grima visibly cringed as he heard this.

"Of course I've grown stronger, I had to become as strong as possible in order to defeat the man who killed my father." Lucina said as she gripped her Falchion tightly and sent Grima a soul piercing glare "And now that you've done it a second time, I have twice the drive."

Lucina and Soren both charged towards Grima with blinding speed. With each strike, Grima was pushed further and further back until he was almost at the all. Just when it seemed like the two had a chance, Grima locked blades with both of them and pushed back with massive force. Soren was sent several feet back but still managed to hold his ground while Lucina fell to the ground.

"Tell me, why do you persist to aid those who are nothing like you?" Grima asked as he walked towards Soren "You aren't human, you aren't manakete, you are an earth dragon. Your place is not with these fools who cling to a dragon that has hurt them more than she has aided them. Your place is here, as my heir."

"When it comes down to it, I'm essentially half human and half dragon, right? Well, I choose to side with my human heritage. I will do whatever is in the best wishes of humanity. Soren said as blue flames wrapped his entire body and extended, with two massive flames around his shoulders that looked almost like wings.

Lucina began to make her way to her feet as Soren rushed towards Grima. As their blades clashed, Soren allowed all of the flames to enter his blade, and gave a push that forced Grima's hands into the air. Lucina was already charging towards Grima and before the dragon could respond, she scored a rather large cut on Grima's side.

Grima backpedaled away from the to and raised his hand in the air. A massive purple flash appeared and suddenly, all of the shepherds were brought to their knees.

Grima clutched his wound "Damn, I should have taken things a little more seriously. Oh well." Grima then raised his voice loudly "It seems that in my haste to greet all of you, I forgot something very important about today's festivities. I actually have a special guest I'd like all of you to meet."

Grima turned towards one of his risen "Go fetch Aquila. I can't greet our guest properly without him." He called out, wearing a smile that could only mean something horrible was about to happen.

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As Aquila made his way into the chamber, Grima pulled out a black tome with purple lines. Etched on the front… was the mark of Loptyr?

"Are you ready for the ceremony, Aquila?" Grima asked.

"I've been waiting for this moment for years, Master." Aquila knelt on one knee, bowed his head, and held out his hands. "Today, we become family."

Grima looked out at us "When I first began my plan, I had believed that the basis for the repopulation of the dragons would be nothing more than myself and my descendants, but I found that I was not alone in my goals. Soon after I brought my third champion into this world, I heard a voice calling to me from the dragon gate. That voice came from none other than my dear father, Loptyr. However, much like myself, Loptyr could not enter this world without a host. And unlike myself, the only living descendants of my father were only of minor blood and as such he had no means of joining me. But then we thought of an idea: form a new contract with another human. But alas, the Lopto Sect was nigh nonexistent at that point, and of the few there were, none of them had the qualities that one would need in order to properly withstand a contract, so it seemed that we would have no way to bring him here. But then we realized that there was a whole other universe to choose from, and we found the perfect host for my father." Grima placed a hand on Aquila's shoulder with a smile "This man right here. Today marks the return of my father as well as the birth of a new family member!"

Grima placed the tome into Aquila's hands "Now join me, so that e may create a new age, an age where humans and dragons can live in peace, isolated from one another." A black mist surged into Aquila's hands and rose up his body until it reached his head.

"Isolation?" Aquila, or rather, Loptyr, asked as he stood up. "I would prefer that we all stay in the same place, with the humans crushed under our feet."

"Father? What happened? You agreed with me before." Grima looked into Loptyr's eyes "And is Aquila even still in there?"

"Oh, I'm sure the fool is in there somewhere deep inside, but I've made sure that he's too far down to have any voice in my actions. I couldn't stand letting him have half the control again." Loptyr glared at Grima "I was able to stand a compromise and take your plans before, but that was because I thought that your path would bring us victory. And then you ended up having to spend several years reforming from taking wounds from the book of Naga and left us alone, with all of your generals being picked off aside from myself. To make matters worse, I had to stay behind in order for you to travel back. You are extremely powerful for your age, but you obviously lack the experience and leadership to accomplish a task such as this."  
"This ow you need to handle the humans." Loptyr snapped his fingers and allowed a single member of the shepherds to stand up: Lena. Before she could make any form of movement, however, Loptyr waved his hand, conjuring a dark cloud that entered Lena through her nostrils. Her skin turned a deathly pale as she fell to the ground. The only sign of life in her was the very faint sound of breathing.

"There is no need to do so much as bloody your sword. All you have to do is exude a little of your power and watch as the insects are crushed. Over time, the fear that will spread through your subjects will bring obedience. It's simpler this way." Alvis said as if he were lecturing a child.

"I've made a horrible mistake." Grima said as he conjured his swords "Run. I'll hold him off." Grima then released everyone in the room from his hold "We're still enemies, don't get me wrong, but I'll help you all this once since we have a common enemy."

And with that, we rushed out as quickly as possible, grabbing our dead and wounded along the way.

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_Soren pov_

"We failed." Lucina murmured lightly into my chest between sobs. If my cloak weren't such a dark color, there would probably be a large damp spot from her tears.

"We did all we could." I said as I rubbed the back of her head reassuringly.

"I know." Lucina said, but her crying only became more fierce. "That doesn't make it any better."

"Lucina…" I said, unable to find the right words. "Remember what I said back when we were little."

"Back when my dad died back then?" Lucina asked, her voice strained. At the very least it seemed like her crying had subsided for the moment.

I nodded "that would be the one"

"You told me to let you take on whatever troubled me." Lucina said, her voice clearing slightly, but still shaky "That you'd do whatever you could to get rid of whatever caused me pain. You were like my little knight."

"I still stand by that, you know." I responded "I had already known back then that I couldn't solve all of your problems, but there are a few that I could, and I've been training my whole life to defeat those."

"Soren, back then did you already know that…" Lucina trailed off as tears began to fill her eyes.

"Yes, I did." Soren responded "But it took no time to start considering him as a monster once I saw how much he had hurt everyone ."

"Soren…" Lucina began bawling "No one that young should have to think of…. no no one _period _should have to think of their father that way."

"But he wasn't my father, he was my father's murderer." I replied. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I'll always be there for you. No matter what you do, no matter where you go, I'm here for you. And if I'm far away, then my actions are for your sake. Because without you…" Soren paused before continuing "I doubt I would be here, and if I was I'd either be Grima's heir or I'd be a shell of a person."

"Wait… if you're far away?" Lucina narrowed her eyes, which would have been somewhat intimidating if it wasn't for the tears welling in her eyes.

I sighed "I was planning on making a team to go and take on Loptyr. He's already gathered a group of risen and will only become more dangerous. I need to gather the people who would be the most effective against him and make a small group. There's no way we could get by with ignoring him and we can't afford to split our troops."

"But that would be suicide!" Lucina yelled.

"How many times have I been told that by someone before and come out alive?" I asked, hoping to reassure.

Lucina looked at me intensely before backing off, seeing that there would be no persuading me. "Just be safe." Lucina said as she hugged me " I don't know what I'd do without you.

I kissed Lucina's forehead before pulling her as closely as possible "You too. Don't do anything reckless while I'm gone. Make sure to listen to anything that Dad, Robin, or Morgan brings up and ignore anything Mark proposes." I held her like that for several moments before breaking off and searching for teammates.

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_Kira pov_

The room was nigh silent, the only sound being Emmeryn's tears. William grasped Lena's hand tightly while Julius used his staff to attempt to ascertain the problem.

After what felt like hours, Julius finally spoke up "It seems like whatever curse Loptyr used is linked to his own life force. It will eat at Lena until it kills her, unless we manage to defeat Loptyr first." He said keeping a strangely steady voice despite the situation. It seemed as if he had a plan.

"Then all we have to do is-" William began.

Defeat Loptyr, yes." Julius said as he pulled out the Book of Naga "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"If what you're thinking is to make a team to defeat Loptyr, then yes." William said, the hand with his brand reaching down to touch Audhulma.

"Wait." I said as I held a hand towards William "Are you sure you want to do this? It is your father you'll be-"

"That is not my father." William said sternly "And even if he was, I came to terms with that a long time ago." William grasped his chin in thought as he looked towards Julius "Speaking of which, we'll probably need to be prepared to take on my mother as well, I have a feeling that she followed Loptyr."

"Do you think we should go talk this over with Soren?" Julius asked.

"That would probably be a good idea." William said as he leaned over to whisper in Lena's ear. From where I was sitting I could hear the words clearly "I'll be back soon." I hoped with all of my heart that he was right.

As they left I bowed my head and did something that I had practically ceased doing in the previous years: I prayed. For Lena, for the safety of Julius and William, for the rest of the war to go by smoothly, for everything that was out of my control. As more and more words flowed out of my mouth, my voice grew more and more shaky until I could speak no longer, overcome by tears.

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_Mark pov_

"This shouldn't be too much to fix with prosthetics, thanks to the developments in magitech that came during my father's time. You'll be able to get a new set of legs that works just as well as Kira's prosthetic hand. Christian said as she finished closing up Syrenne's wounds "But you won't be able to even try those for a year, okay? There is a lot that a staff can be do, but some injuries can only be healed with time."

"In other words, you aren't entering the rest of the battles we'll be in, Syrenne." Silver said sternly.

"But-" Syrenne began

"Syrenne, you just lost your _legs_, you need to take a rest." Crimson said, aggravated by Syrenne's stubbornness. The whole time we had been here, Syrenne had been saying she'd head back to battle as soon as possible.

"I know." Syrenne replied sadly. "It's just… what will I do? This was the first home I can remember having, and now I can't do anything to help you all."

Gaius stood up and walked to Syrenne's bed and placed a bag of his favorite candies in her hands "Take it easy. All you need to do is be your normal wonderful self." Syrenne cracked a small smile at this. "See? like that." Gaius grinned.

"And don't worry about fighting." I said "Silver and I will make sure to do enough of that for you."

Syrenne pulled me into a hug "Thank you." After a moment, she broke away "Oh, and I remembered something. How I managed to escape when our home was attacked."

"How?" Silver asked.

"Mark." She replied simply.

"Me?" I asked in shock.

"Yep. Remember when Grima said that I caused you to turn on him?" I nodded "Well, the force that had attacked our home was led by you. When you found me, you told the risen to leave and that you would make sure to burn the place to make sure no one would survived. Once they were gone, you handed me a pouch of gold and the Sword of Seals and told me to run. I ran as fast as I could, but one of the risen caught me and rammed the flat of his blade into the back of my head. The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was you rushing to fight it off. When I woke up, I was lying in a bed at an inn in Ylisstol."

I clutched my head as memories began to flood my head. Images of myself fighting a squadron of risen filled my head.

"So." Syrenne said as she reached back and got the Sword of Seals and handed it to me. "Here."

"What?" Why would she give me something so precious?

"You gave it to me, so I'm giving it back." Syrenne practically threw the weapon into my hands.

"I will use it to the best of my abilities." I said as I kissed her forehead "And I'll make sure to fight enough for the both of us."

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**So, how many of you were surprised by Loptyr showing up? That's something I've been waiting to bring into play for well over six months now. **

** Anyway, I'm glad to be in the Grima arc now, this one had several of the battles I've been excited for. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I was honestly a little iffy on a lot of it, especially the earlier scenes. I feel like the later ones were a little better though, despite being so much shorter**


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